Another "DWP - recovery from estates" 19 December 2022 at 1:38PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 22 replies 2.5K views

martin2345uk

It's not in progress as such; already accepted 2 offers only for them to be withdrawn due to various issues on the buyers' sides... got another offer at the moment from someone who hasn't sold his house yet.

I just thought I should put it on hold because i will be porting my mortgage over to buy sister out of mum's house, which apparently I should not do until this repayment thing with the DWP is settled...

user1977

It's only a risk if you wouldn't then have enough cash to repay whatever (if anything) is due to the DWP. 

martin2345uk

I mean that's the issue I guess, I just don't know what the outcome of this DWP thing will be and I am just very wary of risking it

user1977

martin2345uk said:

I mean that's the issue I guess, I just don't know what the outcome of this DWP thing will be and I am just very wary of risking it

Have you really no idea what she had been claiming in benefits and whether it was legitimate? I would expect to be able to figure it out from her paperwork, but understandable if you're lacking in that...

p00hsticks

martin2345uk said:

I mean that's the issue I guess, I just don't know what the outcome of this DWP thing will be and I am just very wary of risking it

Can you not get access to a bank statement of hers ? All benefit payments in should be shown with a reference 'DWP XX' where XX is the specific benefit - e.g SP will be State Pension, AA is attendence allowance, PC is Pension Credit. As far as I'm aware the last one is the only means-tested one that could possibly have led to a significant overpayment, although as others have said, it's most likely that any claim was perfectly justified and it's simply the size of the estate including the house (whcih owuld be ignored when assessing a Pension Credit claim) that has prompted the letter.

Shelldean

Firstly don't panic.

My guess is that your mum was getting pension credit.
And she has an a protected income....can't recall all the correct names, sorry it's been over ten years since I dealt with similar.
But basically means your mum didn't need to report any changes to her savings. 
So her saving balance was XX when she applied, but her 'design's at death was XXX. And DWP want to check why the discrepancy!



This page helps explain.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-technical-guidance/a-detailed-guide-to-pension-credit-for-advisers-and-others#assessed-income-period


Read the bit about AIP. if your mum was over 75 when she claimed the period would have been indefinite and ended with her death? I believe?

This has since been fazed out. But if your mum had been on pension credit since before it was stopped (2016) I believe this is the issue.

getmore4less

The main issue with proceeding with the property is there is not enough cash to pay off sis.

Any refund will in effect reduce the residual estate.

You buy the property off the estate with a cash input.

Final distribution can wait.

Unless someone is living in the house the sooner you get it sorted the sooner the drain on the estate remains.

Council tax will kick in a few months.

martin2345uk

Well they have finally got back to me, now asking for bank statements from 19th Feb 2021 to 12th Nov 2021 (date of death). I will have to go to the bank to try and get them as I don't have any copies or anything like that.

Honestly I am just finding this all so stressful 

MalMonroe

martin2345uk said:

Well they have finally got back to me, now asking for bank statements from 19th Feb 2021 to 12th Nov 2021 (date of death). I will have to go to the bank to try and get them as I don't have any copies or anything like that.

Honestly I am just finding this all so stressful 

Hi, so sorry that this is still continuing for you. My family and I had to go through similar things at the times when our parents died and it's really horrible. They, too, only claimed minimal benefits and it turned out that the overpayments were very small - although DWP made a big song and dance. It's really high time their staff were trained how to deal with the recently bereaved.

Are you able to just phone the bank?  Ask them to post the statements - or send via email? The bank should have scans of the documents. Everything takes so long with DWP that you don't feel you can ever recover or start to grieve properly, I do feel for you and know how you feel, since their demands just make everything drag on.

I do hope you manage to sort things out quickly, even though there are still a few official hoops to still jump through.

I wish you all the best, things will get better, it just does take time.  

martin2345uk

Thank you for the lovely supportive message, that means a lot. 
I would rather go into the bank in person, I am more a face to face kind of guy. I will go tomorrow