Can DWP demand payback of an Attendance Allowance overpayment after death?

Edenform

The overpayment was made after my mother passed away.
 
They were obviously made aware of her passing.

I know they can request the overpayment back for state pension overpayments but are **not** allowed to enforce repayment. 

Is it the same for Attendance Allowance?

Thanks for the help.

DE_612183

yes they can ask for the over payment back - it will have to come out of the estate ( which would have received the payment in the first place ).

I'm not sure what happens if you don't make the the repayment - but the executors of the estate are duty bound to repay any debtors.

If there is not enough money in the estate to clear all debts then that's a different matter - but the executors should not distribute any funds until all debts are paid.

Edenform

Thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify, attendance allowance isn't treated the same as state pension, they can actually enforce repayment? 

As an aside, there are no monies left from the estate but a house has been passed on but it's still going through the probate system currently.

MattMattMattUK

Edenform said:

Thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify, attendance allowance isn't treated the same as state pension, they can actually enforce repayment? 

As an aside, there are no monies left from the estate but a house has been passed on but it's still going through the probate system currently.

Then the house is part of the estate, property/goods/assets cannot be distributed whilst debts remain unpaid. 

DE_612183

If there were no monies left in the estate - are you sure the outstanding bills etc were exactly equivalent to the money left in the bank account?

Whatever value of the house - thats an asset of the estate.

sheramber

Then the house will need to be sold to pay any debts before any pay out of the estate. 

HillStreetBlues

Edenform said:

The overpayment was made after my mother passed away.
 
They were obviously made aware of her passing.

I know they can request the overpayment back for state pension overpayments but are **not** allowed to enforce repayment. 

Is it the same for Attendance Allowance?

Thanks for the help.

I think it's the same principle, DWP informed  then any overpayment would be an error so not recoverable. What does the letter say?

p00hsticks

HillStreetBlues said:

Edenform said:

The overpayment was made after my mother passed away.
 
They were obviously made aware of her passing.

I know they can request the overpayment back for state pension overpayments but are **not** allowed to enforce repayment. 

Is it the same for Attendance Allowance?

Thanks for the help.

I think it's the same principle, DWP informed  then any overpayment would be an error so not recoverable. What does the letter say?

I don't think it's cut and dried - I would imagine it depends on the timescales between DWP being informed (especially if indirectly via the Tell Us Once service, which you only get the code for after registering the death, which can be several weeks if the coroner is involved) and also how promptly the bank in which payments were being sent was told of the death and to freeze the account, in which case incoming payments should have been bounced back). 

DE_612183

https://www.gov.uk/benefit-overpayments/repayments-when-someone-has-died

Newcad

As I understand it they can 'demand' overpaid benefits from the estate - in the same queue with any other debts if the estate has sufficient money to pay them back.

What the DWP do seem to be doing a lot of recently is 'asking' that the next of kin repay overpayments out of their own pockets.

The letters are very carefuly worded to imply that you should/need to/must pay, but as it is not your debt you can decline (ie. Tell them to jog-on).

NedS

Newcad said:

As I understand it they can 'demand' overpaid benefits from the estate - in the same queue with any other debts if the estate has sufficient money to pay them back.

What the DWP do seem to be doing a lot of recently is 'asking' that the next of kin repay overpayments out of their own pockets.

The letters are very carefuly worded to imply that you should/need to/must pay, but as it is not your debt you can decline (ie. Tell them to jog-on).

Agreed, DWP need to write to the executor of the estate, not the next of kin as it is not their debt. However, often the next of kin is also the executor.

If you are not the executor of the estate, ignore the letter and do not respond.