Overpayment Recovery Of State Pension & PIP

Missionhall

Hello, Not sure this under the correct category but the nearest I could find.
In Brief, My wife died last October (5th) . I filled in the 'inform everyone' form . 
I do recall getting a letter saying nothing was owed at that time . (need to find it)
Today and yesterday I have received two letters, one regarding state pension and one fo PIP.
Both saying that an overpayment was made and giving the dates.
I am not disputing that they are incorrect . but need to check.
What I am questioning is why has it taken 9 months 2weeks and 2 days to inform me.
As well as being distressing , all of the money has been distributed as per the Will. 
Any thoughts please.  I did consider writhing a cheque dated for 9 months ahead !! probably not legal either .
Thank You for taking the time to read this . 

Keep_pedalling

Yes you are in the correct place. Sorry for the questions but a bit more info required

Were you the executor of your wife’s estate? Are you the residual beneficiary? Were these overpayments paid into a sole account or a joint one?

Technically these payments were not part of her estate so should not have been distributed. Creditors have 6 years to claim from an estate, and the DWP grinds very slowly. 

Pollycat

Re the overpayment of state pension, you might find this of interest:
Ignore requests from the state trying to claw back pension overpayments after someone has died - they have no legal right to do so

Marcon

Keep_pedalling said:

Yes you are in the correct place. Sorry for the questions but a bit more info required

Were you the executor of your wife’s estate? Are you the residual beneficiary? Were these overpayments paid into a sole account or a joint one?

Technically these payments were not part of her estate so should not have been distributed. Creditors have 6 years to claim from an estate, and the DWP grinds very slowly. 

...but as the point appears to have been checked at the time, it's not unreasonable to assume that nothing was owed (depending on what exactly the notification letter said) and for the money to be distributed.

Missionhall

I will check out the paperwork tomorrow, Thanks

Spendless

Pollycat said:

Re the overpayment of state pension, you might find this of interest:
Ignore requests from the state trying to claw back pension overpayments after someone has died - they have no legal right to do so

I told  my Mum this and she followed it and didn't pay back Nans overpayment.

Keep_pedalling

Not sure if that applies to PIP overpayments as well.

Missionhall

It would have been a joint account at that time . Haven't found other paperwork yet . 

Spendless

Keep_pedalling said:

Not sure if that applies to PIP overpayments as well.

I suspect it doesnt. Nan wasnt in receipt of anything other than pensions when she died. 

Pollycat

Keep_pedalling said:

Not sure if that applies to PIP overpayments as well.

Spendless said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Not sure if that applies to PIP overpayments as well.

I suspect it doesnt. Nan wasnt in receipt of anything other than pensions when she died. 

That's why I specifically referred to 'state pension'.

Pollycat said:

Re the overpayment of state pension, you might find this of interest:
Ignore requests from the state trying to claw back pension overpayments after someone has died - they have no legal right to do so

   

NedS

Keep_pedalling said:

Yes you are in the correct place. Sorry for the questions but a bit more info required

Were you the executor of your wife’s estate? Are you the residual beneficiary? Were these overpayments paid into a sole account or a joint one?

Technically these payments were not part of her estate so should not have been distributed. Creditors have 6 years to claim from an estate, and the DWP grinds very slowly. 

and

Missionhall said:

It would have been a joint account at that time . Haven't found other paperwork yet . 

@Keep_pedalling as you asked the question, does this mean the overpayments immediately passed to the surviving joint account holder and did not form part of the deceased estate, so are gone and unrecoverable?

If DWP have written to the OP as executor of the estate, presumably the OP can simply respond in their role of executor advising DWP that the payments were made to a joint account and therefore were never part of the estate, so there is nothing for the estate to repay?