State pension after passing

Cheryl2022

Hi 
I wondered if anybody could help.
my grandad passed away on the 7th jan and he had 2 state pension payments paid in after on the 13th and 20th January.
i reported his death to deep as soon as I could which was on the 20th jan as there was a delay being able to get the death certificate as the hospital said they had been a lot of people passing away and that delayed them releasing his cause of death to get it registered. My question is will the state pension need to be paid back? Only reason I ask is some direct debits went out before I had access to his bank and so there isn't all the money there and he had no other money in his account so I am going to have to cover his funeral costs and I'm a single mum so it's going to be really hard to find the money at the moment. Sorry for going on and please don't judge as I am struggling financially right now. Thank you  

marcia_

Cheryl2022 said:

Hi 
I wondered if anybody could help.
my grandad passed away on the 7th jan and he had 2 state pension payments paid in after on the 13th and 20th January.
i reported his death to deep as soon as I could which was on the 20th jan as there was a delay being able to get the death certificate as the hospital said they had been a lot of people passing away and that delayed them releasing his cause of death to get it registered. My question is will the state pension need to be paid back? Only reason I ask is some direct debits went out before I had access to his bank and so there isn't all the money there and he had no other money in his account so I am going to have to cover his funeral costs and I'm a single mum so it's going to be really hard to find the money at the moment. Sorry for going on and please don't judge as I am struggling financially right now. Thank you  

 You are not responsible for your grandad debts. The debt can not be passed on to you..
 Ignore the letter or ring and say there was no money left after the funeral and priority debts.

 When my sister died I received s letter saying a pip payment was overpaid. She left nothing so i binned it and they have never contacted me again. 

p00hsticks

I'm so sorry for your loss and that you find yourself in this position. 

My understanding is that DWP are likely to write at some point for the money to be paid back, but the estate is under no legal obligation to do so.

I suggest that if and when they write, you say what you have here - the money went out of the account on direct debits before you could get the account frozen, and the estate is insolvent (there is no money to even cover the funeral).

If you are on certain benefits you may be able to get help paying for the funeral - see here
Get help with funeral costs (Funeral Expenses Payment): How it works - GOV.UK

TheGreenFrog

p00hsticks said:

I'm so sorry for your loss and that you find yourself in this position. 

My understanding is that DWP are likely to write at some point for the money to be paid back, but the estate is under no legal obligation to do so.

I suggest that if and when they write, you say what you have here - the money went out of the account on direct debits before you could get the account frozen, and the estate is insolvent (there is no money to even cover the funeral).

If you are on certain benefits you may be able to get help paying for the funeral - see here
Get help with funeral costs (Funeral Expenses Payment): How it works - GOV.UK

Overpayments (or at least those made where DWP was unaware of the death) are recoverable from the estate.  If estate is solvent (i.e. has assets sufficient to meet funeral costs and its other liabilities) then DWP should be repaid before anything is paid out to beneficiaries.  Where estate cannot even meet funeral costs then that is different. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-overpayment-recovery-staff-guide/benefit-overpayment-recovery-guide#chapter-5

Cheryl2022

Thank you all for your kind words and advice, I will do that if a letter comes through 

Sarahspangles

Cheryl2022 said:

Hi 
I wondered if anybody could help.
my grandad passed away on the 7th jan and he had 2 state pension payments paid in after on the 13th and 20th January.
i reported his death to deep as soon as I could which was on the 20th jan as there was a delay being able to get the death certificate as the hospital said they had been a lot of people passing away and that delayed them releasing his cause of death to get it registered. My question is will the state pension need to be paid back? Only reason I ask is some direct debits went out before I had access to his bank and so there isn't all the money there and he had no other money in his account so I am going to have to cover his funeral costs and I'm a single mum so it's going to be really hard to find the money at the moment. Sorry for going on and please don't judge as I am struggling financially right now. Thank you  

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/dwp-has--no-legal-power--to-force-you-to-repay-pension-or-benefi/

Brie

nothing more to add except my condolences.  always a difficult time.

af1963

Depending on what the direct debits were for, and how much they were, and whether you can face doing it, it may also be worth approaching the companies/organisations that the direct debits went to. 

If it's energy companies, for example, he may have had a credit balance with them. 

If it's council tax and his house was vacant after his death, I believe it's exempt from council tax from the date he died, so if you've paid for after that, a refund may be due.

etienneg

Sarahspangles said:

Cheryl2022 said:

Hi 
I wondered if anybody could help.
my grandad passed away on the 7th jan and he had 2 state pension payments paid in after on the 13th and 20th January.
i reported his death to deep as soon as I could which was on the 20th jan as there was a delay being able to get the death certificate as the hospital said they had been a lot of people passing away and that delayed them releasing his cause of death to get it registered. My question is will the state pension need to be paid back? Only reason I ask is some direct debits went out before I had access to his bank and so there isn't all the money there and he had no other money in his account so I am going to have to cover his funeral costs and I'm a single mum so it's going to be really hard to find the money at the moment. Sorry for going on and please don't judge as I am struggling financially right now. Thank you  

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/dwp-has--no-legal-power--to-force-you-to-repay-pension-or-benefi/

From the link given:

"When someone dies, their death must be registered within five days in England and Wales (unless the death is reported to a coroner), or within eight days in Scotland. The Government, in most cases, should be informed, which is usually done via the Government's 'Tell Us Once' service, run by the DWP." Did this registration happen?

"But MoneySavingExpert (MSE) has confirmed the advice given by Mr Lewis that people have no legal obligation to repay any money wrongly paid after the authorities have already been informed about a death." Did this informing happen?

These quotes are rather different from what has been assumed in other replies that have been posted. I don't claim to know the answers, but it's not good to rely on (or quote from) a link without considering its contents, as quoted above.

squirrelpie

Sarahspangles said:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/dwp-has--no-legal-power--to-force-you-to-repay-pension-or-benefi/

That reference isn't relevant in this case. Read it carefully

doodling

Hi,

The first point to understand is that you don't have to do, or pay for, anything at all.  There is no obligation on you to organise a funeral, "sort things out" financially or anything like that.  You have the option of just ignoring everything if you want to.

If you don't organise a funeral, and no-one else does then the council should organise a very basic one.  See https://quakersocialaction.org.uk/we-can-help/helping-funerals/down-earth/information-guidance/reducing-funeral/public-health

If you want to organise a funeral then you can.  As others have noted you may be able to get some help with the costs.  You can also use any cash or money in bank accounts belonging to the deceased to help pay the reasonable costs of the funeral.

What you need to think very carefully about is whether you want any involvement in administering his estate.  From what you have said, it appears that he had no assets / property and there are some debts (at least to DWP).

If the debts are bigger than the assets (I.e. the estate is insolvent) then the best approach is usually to walk away.  Don't get involved in writing to people, don't clear where he was living, definitely don't take or sell any stuff belonging to the deceased, just leave it.  If there are items of sentimental value but negligible monetary value then you could take these but otherwise leave it to others.

If there are more assets than debts then it may be worthwhile considering whether you want to administer the estate.  The important point us that once you have started (e.g. by taking or selling stuff that belonged to the deceased, or taking money for something other than a funeral) then you are stuck with the job so think carefully about it before you get stuck in.