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Asking for payment

8 replies

Verbena37 · 09/03/2015 19:49

Hi,
It's a long story but basically, following the death of an elderly relative, and after asking the county council what was the final amount owed to the nursing home, my mother executed the will and everybody received their due amounts.

Six months after the will had been executed, my mother received a letter from the county council saying nearly £1000 was owed for April's care. However, the amount my mother paid was for by cheque was for May so she thought they had made a mistake and said she would get the bank statements sent.

She sent the statements last week, following another letter saying the money was still owing (so after the first letter in November, they left it another almost four months before asking for the money.

What they failed to tell my mother was that the final cheque she sent, as confirmed by the county council, was used by the council for the April payment that hadn't gone through on direct debit......as the relative had died and her account stopped before the DD had been taken. (They took Direct debits after every month for the previous month's care.

So even thigh it does seem that the estate owes the April payment, because the council left it so long to tell my mother, does she have to pay? She wasn't the only recipient of the estate.....other children and grandchildren were too does she have a lfg to stand on due to the council not telling her in reasonable time following death?

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Floundering · 10/03/2015 12:05

I would take legal advice TBH - morally I would say not but it is still a debt & I bet they are just tidying up accounts for year end & spotted it.

Verbena37 · 10/03/2015 13:41

Thanks Floundering.

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JillyR2015 · 10/03/2015 19:36

The estate presumably is liable so I am afraid it is liable to pay. In law there is a period of six years to claim most debts and you are not quite up to that yet. Obviously it needs to come from the estate not your mother personally so if your mother had to pay it personally she can get reimbursed by the estate rather than bear all that cost herself.

Verbena37 · 10/03/2015 22:38

That's really helpful and makes sense, thank you Jilly.

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PedantMarina · 10/03/2015 22:50

If you gave documentation showing the estate asked for a final bill, and they didn't act on it in goodly time, you might have a case.

Legally? Not necc watertight (but might be: i don't have all the details, and in this sort of thing, wording counts), but the very least what you describe might accomplish is an ex gratia waiver of the amount they didn't bill properly.

And, people joke about this all the time, but local papers and sad-faces might be the way to go here...

Verbena37 · 11/03/2015 12:35

Oh gosh.....that's the last thing my mum would do (the papers and sad faces). The estate wasn't loads of money and no property etc so I think the money that was given out to grandchildren and children has possibly all been spent before she got the letter 6months later!

Knowing my mum, she will just pay it with her own money but if the council are at fault, I don't see why she should have to.

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JillyR2015 · 11/03/2015 12:51

Ah, that's why lawyers doing an estate don't dole out any money at all for absolutely ages to ensure every last person owed money from the HMRC to all kinds of creditors have had time to put in their claims. If the estate has paid out your mother can get the money back on an equal basis from everyone.

Verbena37 · 11/03/2015 12:58

Hmm. She won't do that because we are her children, nieces and nephews etc. ok, thanks for all the info. I know she will just pay it herself. Oh well.

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