Notifying DWP

Legacy_user

Have been assisting an executor to carry out a will and arrange probate online (as whilst they are savvy, they aren't internet savvy), also helping out paying bills and other stuff to get the estate in order and helping out ensuring they are meeting their obligations as an executor.

Is the executor expected to notify DWP when probate is granted, and who the beneficiaries are? Or will DWP get notified by probate office?

MovingForwards

DWP automatically get notified by the probate registry.

If the deceased owned a home expect a letter from the DWP saying they are looking into the finances and will revert to the executor with questions.

For some reason it always happens when there was property involved as the declared money in savings etc to DWP doesn't tally with the overall total, including property, when applying for probate as the property value (providing it's their only one and the one they lived in when passing away) isn't taken into accounts with benefits but sets an alarm off as being hidden money!

katiepoppycat

Yep, I got that letter! It's quite a sternly worded one so be prepared. They will ask for a breakdown of the estate - rather helpfully, it's slightly different to what you submitted for probate. I ended up handwriting additional stuff on there to get to the right figure - the same as probate. They responded within about 3 weeks to say they weren't taking anything further. It scared me a bit though.

System

No property was involved, which made things relatively simple, but it wasn't a trivial amount either. I know 3 of the beneficiaries are getting benefits, It's therefore upto the beneficiaries to notify the DWP before the DWP come knocking I guess, and it sounds like they will come knocking. Might come as shock once they understand the implications of deprivation of assets. Their "windfall" won't be a windfall at all....

badger09

Vim_Fuego wrote: »

No property was involved, which made things relatively simple, but it wasn't a trivial amount either. I know 3 of the beneficiaries are getting benefits, It's therefore upto the beneficiaries to notify the DWP before the DWP come knocking I guess, and it sounds like they will come knocking. Might come as shock once they understand the implications of deprivation of assets. Their "windfall" won't be a windfall at all....

I'm pretty sure both MovingForwards and katiepoppycat and now Flugelhorn thought you were asking about executor notifying DWP in relation to ascertaining the value of the estate. i.e if deceased was in receipt of benefits, DWP might want more info about the breakdown of the value of the estate in case benefits were overpaid.

I think :cool: you're asking, does the executor have to notify DWP separately after probate is granted so that DWP can check whether the beneficiaries are in receipt of benefits affected by their inheritance.

In which case, the answer is NO. Beneficiaries are responsible for notifying DWP individually.

After all, many executors will have no idea whether beneficiaries receive benefits or not. DWP will have means of finding out though;)

Flugelhorn

it is only if they are in receipt of means tested benefits eg pension credit - they may well have had minimal savings but when the whole probate figure appears they have to query whether they actually had more available cash than they declared at the time of the PC assessment

things like AA (which mother got) are not means tested so no queries from DWP (other than paying back a little overpayment of pension)