gazette notice

portgirl1

applied for probate 10th march and received email today saying it has been granted. i am executor and beneficiary in will. should i place a notice in the gazette and will this inform dwp? how long should i wait for dwp to write before i distribute proceeds of estate, would it just be the time of the notice in gazette (if i have to place one)?

Marcon

Placing a notice in the Gazette isn't mandatory. If you have no reason to believe there could be other people/organisations out there with legitimate claims on the estate, you may decide not to do so.

Are you the sole beneficiary? If so, you can distribute the proceeds of the estate to yourself as soon as you like, on the understanding that if you've got it wrong as executor, you may have to pay some back if valid claims emerge at a later date.

Such a notice won't inform the DWP and you need to do so direct, especially if the deceased had been claiming any benefits, and wait for a response. 

portgirl1

Thank you for your reply maroon.  I am not the sole beneficiary. I completed a tell us once service and also rang the pension service. I have heard back from pensions and attenhance allowance. I think pension credit was claimed, so do I have to wait to hear from them? So many depth in dwp, will I get a final letter?

Mojisola

portgirl1 said:

applied for probate 10th march and received email today saying it has been granted. i am executor and beneficiary in will. should i place a notice in the gazette and will this inform dwp? how long should i wait for dwp to write before i distribute proceeds of estate, would it just be the time of the notice in gazette (if i have to place one)?

It can take months for the DWP to send a letter saying that the estate owes them money.  Check it carefully if they do. 

You can do an interim distribution of money to the beneficiaries but keep some of the inheritance set aside in case there is money owing.

getmore4less

portgirl1 said:

applied for probate 10th march and received email today saying it has been granted. i am executor and beneficiary in will. should i place a notice in the gazette and will this inform dwp? how long should i wait for dwp to write before i distribute proceeds of estate, would it just be the time of the notice in gazette (if i have to place one)?

It is often misunderstood what a  gazette notice does.

It does not wipe out the debts if they turn up later they still need to be paid and the creditor can come after the beneficiaries


It does not stop the executor being liable if they failed due diligence.



Some enquiries should be made as part of the due diligence of administration of an estate.


Dealing with HMRC, councils, utilities, DWP, banks CC etc  are part of that process.


You can't issue the notice and sit back and wait for potential creditors to come to you that notice is the end of the process to uncover any debts you could not have reasonably been expected to find.


As executor you could remain liable and be responsible for recovering distributed monies if it was a debt you should have found and benefit/pensions would fall into that category if you new they were being claimed. 


 

GSS20

If the deceased received pension credit or other benefits then the DWP may take months to get in touch. If it’s for overpayment of state pension after death they may never get in touch due to covid. If you used the tell us once then DWP would have been informed. The DWP will send a letter asking for the overpayment of state pension after death  to be paid back but you are not legally obliged to do so and DWP have no power to enforce repayment. Only if the deceased was already repaying an overpayment of a benefit or were not entitled to the benefit in the first place can they enforce payment.