Another "DWP - recovery from estates"

martin2345uk

So our mum passed in November 2021, we got probate a couple of months ago, and now we have got a letter from DWP saying they think she might have been paid too much income-related benefit, and that they are waiting for information from the office who paid those benefits. I am not sure at the moment what benefits those are.

Luckily we have not distributed the estate, we have mum's house. The plan was, I sell my house and buy my sister out of her share of mum's house. My house is on the market at the moment.

Given I have read these things can take a very long time, should I really take my house off the market for now while this is sorted?

I am very worried we will have like a £50k+ repayment bill through the door at some point, I just don't understand enough about all this and find it very stressful! :-(

SiliconChip

Do you have any reason to think the overpayment might be anything like as big as £50K? That would suggest a long term issue with your mum's claim. But it seems far more likely that DWP paid benefits for a week or two after your mum's death and the repayment is at most a few £hundred, probably less. Have they given any reason why it's taken so long, most issues could have been dealt with before probate was granted?

For what it's worth, when I dealt with my mum's death DWP were one of the slowest organisations to finalise everything, although in that case no repayments were required, they just took a while to make some of the payments that were due, but it was still all done just over 2 months after her death (October - December 2021, so some overlap with your time period).

Mojisola

martin2345uk said:

So our mum passed in November 2021, we got probate a couple of months ago, and now we have got a letter from DWP saying they think she might have been paid too much income-related benefit, and that they are waiting for information from the office who paid those benefits.

Luckily we have not distributed the estate, we have mum's house.

This is quite normal.  The value for probate includes the value of the house so it can look as if means tested benefits were claimed (most likely Pension Credit) when the claimant had loads of capital.

I had the same letter after Dad died but almost all his estate was the value of the house and he was quite legally Pension Credit.

martin2345uk

Thanks that is reassuring; no I don't have any particular reason to think it will be such a massive overpayment apart from my usual 0-60mph stress reaction.

I already sent them a statement of the assets at the time of death and this new letter I received since then says that they are waiting for information from the office who paid her the benefits, does that imply it's not to do with the value of the house? Or could it still be?

Marcon

martin2345uk said:

Thanks that is reassuring; no I don't have any particular reason to think it will be such a massive overpayment apart from my usual 0-60mph stress reaction.

I already sent them a statement of the assets at the time of death and this new letter I received since then says that they are waiting for information from the office who paid her the benefits, does that imply it's not to do with the value of the house? Or could it still be?

Given the chaos which reigns at the DWP, I wouldn't read anything into what the letter might or might not imply. Hopefully someone will be along soon to say they had exactly the same experience and it's simply a standard letter, which would be my guess.

martin2345uk

Thank you. I guess on top of everything I've had to deal with this past year this feels like some kind of insinuation that my mum was some kind of benefits cheat when I know she was always very careful to claim what she was entitled to...

I know it's not personal and that they have to do this, I guess it's just caught me at a low ebb.

dunroving

martin2345uk said:

Thank you. I guess on top of everything I've had to deal with this past year this feels like some kind of insinuation that my mum was some kind of benefits cheat when I know she was always very careful to claim what she was entitled to...

I know it's not personal and that they have to do this, I guess it's just caught me at a low ebb.

It will be some sort of standard letter, with no insinuations or accusations. Try to set it aside and take a deep breath. Focus on yourself and those around you. This will sort itself out.

Skiddaw1

martin2345uk said:

Thanks that is reassuring; no I don't have any particular reason to think it will be such a massive overpayment apart from my usual 0-60mph stress reaction.

I already sent them a statement of the assets at the time of death and this new letter I received since then says that they are waiting for information from the office who paid her the benefits, does that imply it's not to do with the value of the house? Or could it still be?

If your mum was living in the house the value of it is immaterial.

Don't worry OP- chances are there's no overpayment. In my previous life (welfare rights for well over 25 years) I dealt with loads of those letters. If they eventually decide there is a recoverable overpayment, get it checked out by a specialist welfare rights person (because chances are it'll be challengeable). 

martin2345uk

Thanks guys, really appreciate it. I have told my estate agent today who is dealing with the sale of my house, they say they will inform any potential buyers of this possible delay of however many months, so at least I feel I have covered my bases there. 

Mojisola

martin2345uk said:

Thank you. I guess on top of everything I've had to deal with this past year this feels like some kind of insinuation that my mum was some kind of benefits cheat when I know she was always very careful to claim what she was entitled to...

I know it's not personal and that they have to do this, I guess it's just caught me at a low ebb.

It isn't - it's a holding letter to stop the estate being distributed until they know for sure but the one I got was quite severely worded and it was an initial shock - just when you're dealing with so much else.

It could have been worded that "there may be an overpayment" rather than express the certainty that money must be repaid.  The majority of these letters that go out will be the result of the value of the home being included in the estate valuation so they could be more sensitive about it.

Brie

Why stop the house sale if it's already in progress?  Wouldn't it simply be more sensible to proceed and when the ££ is paid hold back a portion to deal with any outstanding bills?  There's going to be little things like energy bills, clearance costs etc I would have thought.