Inheritance and DWP

HillStreetBlues

Ammah45 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. The money was actually closer to 40K not 20. That was a typo. But it's still small. 

If you can find the records of his pension credit as  that will help you find out if there has been an overpayment.
If it was on Guarantee Credit, then he should have £60 per week deducted from that award if it was £40k First £10k ignored, then £1 per £500 , 30000/500 =60.

Keep_pedalling

HSBC don’t seem to have an advertised limit and I believe they do it on a case by case basis.

HillStreetBlues

OP If your father was getting Guarantee Credit then he wouldn't have to pay any council tax, as would have the full CTR.
But if the savings wasn't declared and found the award of PC was nil, then there will be a  repayment due to the council.
Hopefully it was all declared and there is northing to worry about, but if not, do get benefit advice to work out what the overpayments should be.

TBagpuss

As others have said, this is fairly normal and the solicitor hasn't kicked a hornets nest, they are ensuring that you don't get a demand from DWP further down the line. 

If you are the executor then they are free to uninstructed the solicitor at any stage and complete the work yourself, but if you instructed them to do it, they are doing what you asked them to .

If you are the executor, then it's you who is liable to ensure that any debts are paid before any money is distributed - if you want the solicitors to release the funds to you then you can instruct them to do so, however if you then paid out money to beneficiaries before waiting to hear back from DWP you could be personally liable for the debt if you hadn't held back enough to cover it. If you are the sole beneficiary the same is true -if you have the money now and spend it, you may still have to pay the DWP back if it turns out they are owed anything. It's good practice not to distribute the estate until you can be sure all debts are paid.

That said, if you have an immediate need you can always ask the solicitors to release some of the funds to you as an interim payment, but be aware that the deb (if any) takes priority so if more was owed than you'd jhave to find the money to repay it. (Up to the maximum your dad left) 

retiredbanker1

Hello again,
A quick Google search indicates HSBC need Probate for accounts with more than £10k - So I owe him an apology there, Probate was required and that is how DWP found out about the estate.

A  SAR is a statutory access request - all the information DWP held about him (which will include if an assessment was made at any time since he applied for pension credit) will be on there.
If it was me I would instruct your solicitor not to do any further work in dealing with the DWP - this is something you can do for free.
I do remember a few years ago when I was going through this that I found the Legal Beagle website invaluable - templates of what to ask and how to ask etc.

HillStreetBlues

retiredbanker1 said:

Hello again,
A quick Google search indicates HSBC need Probate for accounts with more than £10k - So I owe him an apology there, Probate was required and that is how DWP found out about the estate.

A  SAR is a statutory access request - all the information DWP held about him (which will include if an assessment was made at any time since he applied for pension credit) will be on there.
If it was me I would instruct your solicitor not to do any further work in dealing with the DWP - this is something you can do for free.
I do remember a few years ago when I was going through this that I found the Legal Beagle website invaluable - templates of what to ask and how to ask etc.

I would agree with that, many don't deal with benefit law so if overpayment won't check the diminishing capital rule

Ammah45

Thanks everyone. I found some papers in my fathers documents relating to DWP assessments over the recent years, so I am sure they knew what they were paying him and so there should be nothing to worry about. 

I am going to wait until September and if DWP hasn't come back yet, I will instruct the solicitor to release the funds, deduct their bill and I will deal with it after that. I am the sole beneficiary and really don't want an increased solicitor bill for every letter or email they send. 

Ammah45

Following on from this, I have just had a letter from DWP asking me how my father's stay was being funded at the care home. I know he was being assessed by the local council and was asked to pay a daily amount himself. 
He didn't have any property. 

Does this mean that the DWP will be looking to claw some money back?

BooJewels

I don't think anyone can possibly guess what the DWPs intentions are without knowing your father's finances.  But they'll want to ensure that everything is correct - he might even have been underpaid.  Just answer everything honestly as you go along. 

Is there a number on the letter that you can ring to try and get an understanding of the situation - they can maybe explain what they're looking at and the potential implications.  I found them extremely helpful when I rang a few weeks ago about my aunt's estate and the letter I got then.  I actually managed to get it sorted and signed off during that call.

Were the council actually funding any of his care costs, or was he totally self-funding?

Ammah45

BooJewels said:

I don't think anyone can possibly guess what the DWPs intentions are without knowing your father's finances.  But they'll want to ensure that everything is correct - he might even have been underpaid.  Just answer everything honestly as you go along. 

Is there a number on the letter that you can ring to try and get an understanding of the situation - they can maybe explain what they're looking at and the potential implications.  I found them extremely helpful when I rang a few weeks ago about my aunt's estate and the letter I got then.  I actually managed to get it sorted and signed off during that call.

Were the council actually funding any of his care costs, or was he totally self-funding?

Thanks. Yes there is a number. 

Someone from the council used to come and assess him and they paid dome while my dad topped it up. 

I remember a couple of days after his passing I went to pick up his belongings and the council guy was there and he told me that he's happy my dad's payments are up to date and there is nothing else to pay.