Benefit check letter after probate

adviceforall

Hi

Our mum died in December and we have had probate back and all is good.. Then we get a letter about benefit check saying dont distribute any money as it may have to be paid back.

Mum was in a care home from May last year as she had dementia, the only benefit she had was attendance allowance which we were told she was entitled to as she was self funding, we actually had a benefit lady come round who said she should have been received the higher rate but the forms never arrived before she sadly passed away.
She had a pension from her job and a small amount of pension credit but just the savings credit. Again the benefit lady said that was fine as she was paying for her care.

The pension people contacted my sister to say the pension owed her £16 so cant be that.

She did get the winter fuel payment towards heating which is the only thing we could think that would amount to an over payment..

Her bank account was closed in about a week.

Is there anything else that anyone could see what they think could possibly be an over payment...

We thought once probate was given that was that..

calcotti

The fact that you've had the letter doesn't necessarily mean there will be anything to pay back. You will have to wait and see what information DWP want to check. They will have identified that she has died and was getting Pension Credit so it needs to be checked but if the death is only a month ago they probably haven't gone through the records yet. However they are putting you on notice that they need to and you should wait until you know nothing is owed before distributing the estate.

Found this item which may be helpful https://www.hughjames.com/blog/dwp-claims-against-estates#.WbJkGnaGM2x