DWP recovery from estate form

Frogletina

Having recently been sent this form from the DWP, and having made a complaint, I'd like to share what I feel is wrong with the form. It has been mentioned before on this forum that it is not good but nothing has been done about it.

The probate office asks for the total of money (cash and in banks) but the DWP wanted every account number listing with the amount in each account. In my case this was 11 bank accounts - plus the cash. I had to go back and look at each account separately again. The total was less than £3000.

I could not tell in what box I had to specify the total amount of household/personal goods.

There was a box for the cost of any property, but nowhere to put that there was still a mortgage owing on it.

There was money owing from an inheritance - was this a debt to the estate? Is that the box I should put it in?

After three calls and two complaints, I was told that I didn't need to fill the form in, as it was clear that when the UC was claimed, the information given at that time was correct.

However, the DWP can go back several years, and you are warned not to distribute the estate until they have finished investigation. This can take months.

Luckily I complained and that is the end of the matter in my case.

G_M

Not really a property issue. Try the

Deaths, Funerals & Probate Board
or
The Benefits & Tax Credits Board

Frogletina

G_M wrote: »

Not really a property issue. Try the

Deaths, Funerals & Probate Board
or
The Benefits & Tax Credits Board

This on the Deaths, Funerals & Probate Board

SevenOfNine

I was warned by DWP before probate was granted that there MIGHT have been an overpayment, that they would be investigating & if found to be true then repayment from the estate funds would have to be made. If an executor is silly enough to distribute the estate regardless then I'm afraid on their head be it.

I was then required to send a bank statement (she had a couple of accounts) for a specific date 7 years previous to her death, apparently it was the date she completed a claim for a specific benefit (which had a lifetime assessment, so subsequent financial checks were never required, unless she suddenly came into money in which case it was her responsibility to tell them).

That is where DWP looked somewhat daft, as the same letter telling me to go back 7 years, also said that financial organisation usually kept records for 6 years!

I sent DWP a copy of 2 statements (6 years old) & said I could not go back further. They took a few months but eventually confirmed both statements showed that even at that time she would still have qualified for her benefit so "no overpayment".

No complicated form, just a couple of very simple letters, with simple requests for info. I did not distribute funds until I received their confirmation. Too many beneficiaries 'count their chickens before they're hatched', everyone needs to learn to be patient & WAIT!

I think some of what you've quoted as info required is for the IHT/tax forms to accompany the probate application, not information that DWP requested.

Frogletina

SevenOfNine wrote: »

I think some of what you've quoted as info required is for the IHT/tax forms to accompany the probate application, not information that DWP requested.

I can assure you that this was information required by the DWP. I had already filled in an IHT205 which I sent off with the PA1A, and was granted probate.

Once the DWP received the information regarding the probate figure this was the trigger which prompted the letter and asset form to be sent out to me.

The accompanying notes to the asset form reads as follows

'when someone who was receiving an income-related benefit dies and leaves an estate, we have to check that the right amount of benefit has been paid'.

But this was not the case, the person was not on an income-related benefit at the time they died.

It was not that the form was complicated, but that it was not really fit for purpose. It requested more detail than I put on the IHT205 as I've already described.

The IHT205 form wanted a total figure for money in bank and cash, and there was a separate section for household and personal goods.

The DWP wanted a breakdown of account numbers and money in each bank account.

A separate section on the asset form was for 'cash other than at bank' - but apparently this is also where the value of household and personal goods has to be put. Who would know - unless they rang to ask.

The asset form also asked for the probate valuation of the property, but didn't ask whether there was a mortgage still outstanding. This would throw the figures out, which had to tally exactly with the IHT205 form.

It's all sorted now without having to send the asset form back once I'd explained about the inheritance not yet received by the estate and the outstanding mortgage.