Death Debt? Benefits query.

paragon909

So a family member recently died suddenly and the police came to me first, So I basically dealt with the cremation etc, But now I have the council sending me an invoice for apparently overpaid rent, The death occured 13th of December and I registered the death on 21st December and I done the "tell all" where all departments are told of the deceased.

The council invoice says execs of "name" which is me. It's saying overpayment period, 17th december - 6th January for £241.65, Surely i'm not responsbile for this? And I won't be paying it....

MovingForwards

The estate pays it if there is any money.

You are not personally responsible unless you've paid all beneficiaries out of the estate; doubtful due to how recent it was.

Are you dealing with the family members estate or is someone else? If someone else then pass them the bill and give the council a call to say who is dealing with it.

They contacted you as you used the tell us once service.

paragon909

MovingForwards wrote: »

The estate pays it if there is any money.

You are not personally responsible unless you've paid all beneficiaries out of the estate; doubtful due to how recent it was.

Are you dealing with the family members estate or is someone else? If someone else then pass them the bill and give the council a call to say who is dealing with it.

They contacted you as you used the tell us once service.

There is no estate or will. DWP only paid £300 towards the direct cremation I had done which costs £995 apparently because the deceased had £660 odd in the bank when he died.

I will be phoning the council tomorrow and the landlord, But just posting here for some advice. Well I wasn't named as next of kin, The police just informed me first. But im confused.

TELLIT01

Nobody has a liability to pay the debts of the deceased in a situation such as you describe. If there is no money in the estate, there is no way to repay it.
When you speak to DWP tell them that they actually paid towards funeral costs.

mrschaucer

paragon909 wrote: »

But now I have the council sending me an invoice for apparently overpaid rent,

The council invoice says execs of "name" which is me. It's saying overpayment period, 17th december - 6th January for £241.65,

You keep saying "overpaid" and "overpayment". Is the council trying to tell you that the family member is OWED money for overpayment of rent and they want to refund it to you as executor?

KatrinaWaves

mrschaucer wrote: »

You keep saying "overpaid" and "overpayment". Is the council trying to tell you that the family member is OWED money for overpayment of rent and they want to refund it to you as executor?

There is no confusion.

The DWP are talking about an overpayment. That means that they have overpaid.

It does not imply in anyway that the deceased is owed money. The money appears to be benefits paid for the period after the death.

paragon909

mrschaucer wrote: »

You keep saying "overpaid" and "overpayment". Is the council trying to tell you that the family member is OWED money for overpayment of rent and they want to refund it to you as executor?

I said overpaid because that's what it says on the letter from the council. And the overpayment they want back for a period after the death.

calcotti

Are you perhaps referring to an overpayment of housing benefit rather than rent. Rent would have been paid by the deceased to the landlord. The deceased may have been receiving housing benefit from the council. Any benefit paid after death is repayable from the estate. If the estate has no assets the debt dies too.

John_G_Jones

paragon909 wrote: »

I said overpaid because that's what it says on the letter from the council. And the overpayment they want back for a period after the death.

If the overpayment was made then it will be in their bank account, so they’ll get it back.

Edited to add, you were told on the 23rd of Dec that if you arranged the funeral,then you might be liable for costs. Did you take the overpayment from your relative’s bank account and spend it on the funeral?

PasturesNew

They've sent it to you because you're the only name in the world they have of somebody who is "dealing with stuff".

They want rent from the deceased. There is no money in the estate of the deceased. They will not "come after you for it". It's not your debt.

calcotti

If the debt arises from money paid to the deceased prior to death then , in the absence of assets, the debt dies too. Paying funeral costs has priority over repayment of debt.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/dealing-with-the-financial-affairs-of-someone-who-has-died/

I don’t know the position if the money was paid to the deceased after death and has now been taken from the estate to pay for the funeral. In this case the debt only arose after death.