A bill has arrived after estate has been distributed

EverDecreasingCircles

My friend's elderly mum passed away on 29th Nov. She'd been living in a care home up until she was admitted to hospital where she caught covid and died.
My friend received a bill from the county council on 5th Jan being the charges for the care home. My friend queried the bill and was told not  to pay it, that she might even be due a refund. Another bill arrived a week later which my friend paid, thinking that was the end of it. 
The money left by her mum was then distributed between the beneficiaries (just last week). Now my friend has received another bill, for the original amount of just over £1300. The council say this is for the month leading up to her mum's death and that the bill she paid was just for the day of her mum's death because that fell into the following month's invoice period. It's been nearly 3 months since the lady passed away. 
Can anyone tell me where my friend stands on this? Does she have to try and get the money back from the beneficiaries to pay it?
TIA.

p00hsticks

I'm afraid that (assuming she is the executor of the will) she either needs to ask the benficiaries to pay the bill or pay it out fo her own pocket. She's really been too quick in distributing the estate

tacpot12

It would be best for her to contact the beneficiaries asap before they spend their bequests. If the money has already been spent, your friend might have to pay it herself, or get a loan to pay it while the beneficiaries have time to repay her. I agree she has been a bit quick in distributing the estate. 

Flugelhorn

agree let the beneficiaries know ASAP, it has to come out of the estate. I presume that no-one actually has probate but your friend has been acting to administer the estate?

74jax

If the death only happened on 29th November, has your friend really made sure he has everything?  Checked all bank accounts, no hidden shares etc?  I'm guessing it was a small estate and so that's why it has all been so quick?  
He should have asked for a final bill from the council, can he check the one he paid, does this have FINAL on it, anywhere?  If so I would go back and state that he paid it as the final bill.  
Unfortunately yes he does need to go back to the beneficiaries to pay the bill - if he isn't himself.  I would make sure there's absolutely nothing else to pay though, no hidden debts etc.  Even from years ago that got lost in the care home system.  Overpayment of pensions, care allowance, tax anything at all.  

JGB1955

I had always thought that the 'executors year' was a bit of overkill, particularly where one has had POA for several years and knows 'what's what'.   However, dealing with HMRC and tax returns for my father for 2019/20 and 2020/21 has shown that it makes good sense to keep a couple of £1K back, just in case.  This estate does seem to have been dealt with rather expeditiously. 

Sea_Shell

How many beneficiaries and how much each?   Is this bill a "drop in the ocean" or does it wipe out the bequests?

Spendless

My MIL died in the first few days of October 2020. Last week fetched the 3rd request for money to be returned due to overpayment/omission  from all different places, 1 was an overpayment of pension, the 2nd an item that the funeral directors had mistakenly left off the bill, the latest was an overpayment of attendance allowance. MIL had very little to leave and because she knew she was terminal gave away trinkets to family whilst still alive. I did think re the last letter arrived that it's a good job FIL can afford to pay these and wasn't struggling financially oblivious that he owed anyone money. It's certainly made me aware that bills can crop up months later. 

Manxman_in_exile

74jax said:

...
He should have asked for a final bill from the council, can he check the one he paid, does this have FINAL on it, anywhere?  If so I would go back and state that he paid it as the final bill.  
...

I know what you mean, but isn't the problem going to be that the bill paid was the final one - the issue is that they hadn't (for whatever reason) paid the previous months bill?

The fatal error was the assumption that the previous bill must have been cancelled without confirming that it had been:

EverDecreasingCircles said:

.... My friend queried the bill and was told not  to pay it, that she might even be due a refund. Another bill arrived a week later which my friend paid, thinking that was the end of it. 
...

74jax

Manxman_in_exile said:

74jax said:

...
He should have asked for a final bill from the council, can he check the one he paid, does this have FINAL on it, anywhere?  If so I would go back and state that he paid it as the final bill.  
...

I know what you mean, but isn't the problem going to be that the bill paid was the final one - the issue is that they hadn't (for whatever reason) paid the previous months bill?

The fatal error was the assumption that the previous bill must have been cancelled without confirming that it had been:

EverDecreasingCircles said:

.... My friend queried the bill and was told not  to pay it, that she might even be due a refund. Another bill arrived a week later which my friend paid, thinking that was the end of it. 
...

Ah, yes I see what you mean. Mine from Eden Council shows Final Settlement.  Which much be different. And it lists dates so it's a bit like a statement but the bottom has amount owed. 
I also asked for full accounts for the last 3 years, which was OTT but I wanted to make sure they matched mine and they happily sent this. 
I think as I had PoA so always dealt with everything I had a good handle on it all. 
Pension request came a few months later too, but I used Tell Us Once, if ops friend did it direct for the overpayment it could have been quicker. 

Manxman_in_exile

Yeah.  I think friend's best bet is to do as you suggested before.  Contact council, say they were advised not to pay the previous bill, and had reasonable assumed (having heard no more about it) that the final invoice accounted for, and included, everything.  And warn beneficiaries that they may need to pay up.  I suspect the council won't write it off, but what else can friend do?