Dealing with DWP after death of a parent

Robbie64

My dad died last October and I am the executor of his estate. Just about everything is now sorted out. His flat has been sold, all debts have been settled and all that remains is to distribute the money according to his wishes. Except for one problem - the DWP. When dad died he was owed a week's state pension, or at least I think he may have been. But I cannot get through to the DWP to find out if he is owed a week's pension. Also the advice I have recived is not to distribute any monies until the DWP (Debt Management? or at least the part that deals with estates) have confirmed no money is owing to them. There isn't as my dad told me that other than claiming his state pension he had never claimed any other benefits since he had a fortnight off work sick in 1977 (there was no SSP back then, anyone on the sick for more than 3 days had to claim Sickness Benefit from the old DHSS).

Can anyone advise me on what i can do? I've tried ringing the Pension Service but they never answer the phone and I can't ring them all day every day. As an executor I could be personally liable if I distribute the monies and the unlikely scenario of an overpayment happens to occur.

Keep_pedalling

If he was not receiving any means tested benefits then the only thing that maybe owed is an overpaid pension payment and that is only to be likely if he was paid in advance rather than arrears. There is nothing stopping you distributing the bulk of his estate and keeping a small amount back from the residual beneficiaries just in case.

Robbie64

Keep_pedalling said:

If he was not receiving any means tested benefits then the only thing that maybe owed is an overpaid pension payment and that is only to be likely if he was paid in advance rather than arrears. There is nothing stopping you distributing the bulk of his estate and keeping a small amount back from the residual beneficiaries just in case.

Thanks for the reply and advice. His state pension was paid every 4 weeks and I think it may have been in arrears. I would need to check though and that takes me back to having to phone the DWP. His last pension payment (for 4 weeks) was paid the week (to the day) before he died so he may be owed a week or he may not be.

Keep_pedalling

Robbie64 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

If he was not receiving any means tested benefits then the only thing that maybe owed is an overpaid pension payment and that is only to be likely if he was paid in advance rather than arrears. There is nothing stopping you distributing the bulk of his estate and keeping a small amount back from the residual beneficiaries just in case.

Thanks for the reply and advice. His state pension was paid every 4 weeks and I think it may have been in arrears. I would need to check though and that takes me back to having to phone the DWP. His last pension payment (for 4 weeks) was paid the week (to the day) before he died so he may be owed a week or he may not be.

Yes, 4 weekly is always paid in areas so he should be owed rather than owing. The reason for the advice not to distribute is to protect from something like a major clawback for things like pension credit which the deceased may not have been entitled too, so in your case you are not risking anything by distributing now, you can always make a separate payment when / if you receive any underpayment.

GSS20

As he only had state pension then it’s unlikely his estate would be investigated. Looking at bank statements any additional benefits are paid separately so you would see if he was receiving any. The DWP have no legal powers to insist you pay back any overpayment of pension after notification of death unless he was already paying back a benefit he was not entitled to.  They can send a letter requesting for the payment but they only send it once. When I enquired I was told due to COVID they may or may not request the overpayment it may just be written off but unfortunately they never bother to inform you of that decision. I spent months chasing DWP as my mother had pension credit and it was only after I managed to speak to someone that I finally received notification that I could distribute the estate.

Flugelhorn

as others say if there is no means tested benefit there is unlikely to be any problem, and you can get on with distributing the estate. I had to pay back some state pension that got paid despite us doing "tell me once" but it was only about 10 days worth. 

the main problem is when people have rightly had pension credit etc owing to their income level etc but when the estate it is submitted to probate it has the value of the property etc in it and hence triggers an investigation at DWP that they may have had this benefit incorrectly. If no means tested benefit then it won't trigger anything 

Robbie64

^

There was definitely no means tested benefits (Pension Credit etc), just state pension as he also had a decent sized works pension so didn't need a top up.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Flugelhorn

Robbie64 said:

^

There was definitely no means tested benefits (Pension Credit etc), just state pension as he also had a decent sized works pension so didn't need a top up.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

like mother's estate then, only communication from DWP was "sorry we sent pension payment by mistake, nobodies fault, sorry t cause you any bother but can we have it back please?"

thegreenone

My late Mum received pension payments the day after she died (1/11/20) and a week later plus the winter fuel allowance.

I have the money aside but DWP haven't been in touch at all.  Perhaps once her flat is, finally(!), sold, I will get a letter.

Robbie64

thegreenone said:

My late Mum received pension payments the day after she died (1/11/20) and a week later plus the winter fuel allowance.

I have the money aside but DWP haven't been in touch at all.  Perhaps once her flat is, finally(!), sold, I will get a letter.

You shouldn't have a problem with the Winter Fuel Payment as the eligibility for 2020 was that the person was both of state pension age and living in the UK for at least one day during the week of 16 to 22 September 2020. There are some exceptions. This is the equivalent rules for this year but apart from the date everything else is the same as last year:

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/eligibility

lincroft1710

When my father died 16 yrs ago, as executor I had a letter from DWP saying they had overpaid his pension. They gave no date(s) of the overpayment so I ignored the letter. Never heard from them again. My opinion was that this was a generic letter sent to all executors