Pension death grant and debts

Hi there,

Apologies if this is in the wrong area. Wondering if anyone can offer some advice.

My mum passed away in January this year. She was only 60 and had only received 4 years' worth of pension payments (she was a social worker with a council) apparently she was entitled to 10 years' worth of payments. She lived in England whilst my sister and myself live in Scotland. Her employer (a county council) specified that we obtain probate to be able to receive the remainder of her entitled pension pot (in the form of a death grant awarded to us) we applied for this at Newcastle Court (as this was the nearest English court to us; since she lived and worked in England, this had to be done in England)

My mother had £21,000 of debts before she died. These were between various creditors; TSB, vanquis, argos etc. On the probate forms, we had to fill out the amount of cash, assets, property in her estate. As there was no estate to speak of, we entered a minus balance of £21,000 (as this was her amount of debt) her employer told me that the reason they wanted us to have probate was really to keep themselves right, and that we are who we say we are and that there were no other children involved and that we are entitled to her death grant.

We were awarded the death grant a few weeks ago.

My step father also passed away in November last year (10 weeks before my mother) his employer hadn't finalised his death in service for my mother before she passed away and after she died, we filled out the necessary paperwork for this. They also awarded myself and my sister his death in service benefit (using the intestate law?) On our confirmation letter, they actually stated "please note; this payment does not form any part of Mr *******'s Estate" As debts are only payable from the estate left by a person, this meant that had he any debts; then legally, they would not have to be paid from these monies. We were hoping our confirmation letter from my mother's employer would have the same wording, however it did not. I asked if they could possibly issue us a letter stating the death grant we were awarded does not form part of the estate, however they say it is a very grey area and are not sure of the legalities so cannot give us an answer. They advised me to seek legal advice.

I contacted a local solicitor who has told me that she can provide me with a letter stating that generally death grants do not form part of a person's estate, according to Scots law. However, although she assumes that English law will be the same, she cannot comment on that.

Sorry for the extremely long post, however if anyone has any experience or knowledge of this, then it would be really helpful.

Without sounding too crude, obviously we would like to avoid paying these debts back if, legally we do not have to. This money has came to us at the end of a terrible few months and could really help both of us out regards our own mortgages and debts etc.

Many thanks in advance.

Olivia