DWP chasing debt of deceased mother .

[Tenaciousbeyondallthings]

Can I please make it clear from the outset that I am after legal opinion. NOT moral or lay opinions from non legally qualified people.

My dad died in 2022. He had been ill with schizophrenia most of my life. I have 2 siblings.

He was in an assisted accommodation. He was in receipt of the highest rate of DLA for both mobility and care . To be absolutely clear , I had no influence or control over his money . I was not a POA or an Appointee to DWP. His money , benefits , rent were handled by a 'corporate appointee' (Social Services for the area)

We visited monthly but that was the extent of our involvement.

When he died he had left a very simple WILL.. leaving his 'Estate' to be divided equally between myself and my siblings. I was named as executor as I have a respected job (think nurse/police/ambulance) ..

It took a little while to gather his accounts .

After about 9 months I was in a position to make bequests. A total of £7k each.

1 year and 3 months later - DWP tell me that the estate owes them. £13k. This is because her DLA had taken his savings over £16k and he was no longer entitled.

Therefore owes £13k in UC..

The money was distributed 5 months earlier and spent .

They are pursuing me as executor for the 13k ..

My argument against this is that I had no control or ability to check his income from benefits was correct as social services were in charge of this.

My questions are :

How long should an executor wait before distributing money to beneficiaries when we had no idea there was a debt. ? I understood that as Executor I needed to pay beneficiaries in a 'timely manner'

If dad was not entitled to the money then surely the appointee is the one responsible. ? How could I know there was a debt without having previous knowledge ?

I have no debt. I do not want debt but feel this is unfair. I have written all the above to DWP but still receive the same threats of a debt collector..

Am I liable ? If I am then we (siblings and I have to pay it. But they are far from 'comfortable' .. one spent it on a car to get to work and the other on hip replacement surgery.. (so she could keep working)

What would be your legal advice ?

What would be your legal advice ?

my legal advice would be go and see a solicitor

When probate is granted they should have written to warn you that they were investigating and told you to wait to distribute the estate until they’ve finished. Did they write to you?
No executor can know for sure how much may be owed to the DWP so it’s common that this happens.
It does seem misleading that probate is granted yet there still may be a DWP debt.

See a solicitor is really good advice.

Fwiw, my solicitor who’s dealing with my husbands estate has said that no estate monies should be distributed until 6 months after probate has been granted incase any beneficiary or creditor comes forward. Also a notice asking for creditors/ beneficiaries to come forward should be put in both the local newspaper and the London Gazette.

My mum had claimed pension tax credits that she wasn’t eligible for. A social worker in hospital applied for them for her when she had dementia unbeknown to us. She had savings and was definitely not eligible. About 5 months after her death, and once probate was granted DWP wrote asking for repayment of these. I believe they were alerted by the probate. We paid it back and after six months distributed the rest.

As executor, your first duty is to settle the liabilities of the estate. You have to make sure you've done this before the remainder is paid out to the beneficiaries. If a deceased person received state benefits then it is important ask the DWP to confirm what if anything is owed to or from them and pay any debt back before distributing the rest to the beneficiaries.

Executors broadly speaking have a year from the date of death to pay the estate to the beneficiaries. It can take longer than that but it's important not to rush.

This money is owed and you have to pay it back. You can try and reclaim what you've paid out from the beneficiaries but if they won't cough up then you as executor are liable.

This money belongs to the public purse.

This doesn't sound like an estate where a grant of probate was needed.

No a grant of probate was not required. The entire estate was £21,700.!

Once you notified the DWP of the death, what was their response?

DWP tell me that the estate owes them. £13k. This is because her DLA had taken his savings over £16k and he was no longer entitled. is 'her' DLA a typo?

I made the bequests after 9 months.. the DWP came to us at 15 months.. how long was i meant to wait ?

Yes - it's his dad .. sorry

So in relation to his death, at what point did you notify DWP?

I think OP has changed some details to make it less identifying.

No . Nothing until 1yr and 3 months..

OP, your post says deceased mother, you talk about deceased father, and use she / he.
Is it your father???

I didn't think DLA was counted as income?

Sorry have tried to mid 1 identify.. but in reality it's my dad .

Sorry .. meant Mis-identify

When my dad died I used the Tell Us Once system to notify relevant authorities and quite quickly (3-4 weeks from memory) had a letter from DWP to say he didn't owe anything. Did you use that?

Fgs it doesn’t matter if it’s a he or a she!

do you have legal cover on your home insurance op? If so give them a ring they should be able to help you with this

hopefully a solicitor will be along soon to answer

fingers crossed there’s a loophole and you don’t need to repay it!

and if you do offer them £1 a month!

DLA is not means tested so saving should be irrelevant?

No, that’s right but presumably her dad wasn’t spending it so the money accumulated in his account causing his savings to go over £16k which is the upper capital limit for UC

There are plenty of legal professionals who often post here and very kindly share their knowledge, but if you want legal advice which is specific to your situation and which you can follow, then you need to go and see a solicitor.

DLA is not means tested but it’s not unheard of for it to accumulate and become savings.

OP, I would want to check that the overpayment has been correctly calculated, including consideration of diminuation of capital.

Was your father getting Housing Benefit? I ask because you said it was assisted accommodation and some people do get HB for rent and UC for the personal element. If so, the Council administers HB and there may be an overpayment there too. I’m just flagging it up as a small possibility. If you have access to an old UC award breakdown, that will tell you.

Just to add, I’m sorry you’ve got all this to deal with, OP and I’m sorry for your loss.

The process when someone dies is to notify banks etc, and also notify any agencies by using Tell us Once - you will have been told about this by the registrar when registering his death. As you’ve already been told, it takes about 3 weeks before for DWP to write - with my mum, I got a letter by week 4 telling me that they would contact me if to let me know if she owed anything or they owed her. As executor, you would have received a closing statement from his bank / savings accounts so would have known that he had savings over £16K.
So the issue now is, are you able to prove that you were unaware of the rules around savings and benefits?