My darling grandmother died July 2018.
Apologies. This may well be long.
My father (her son) was her next of kin but due to DF's mental health problems, it was left to me to sort out my grandmother's affairs. I spoke with her bank and arranged for them to pay her funeral costs out of the funds available in her current account. She owed money on a bank credit card but the credit card debt couldn't be paid in full as she didn't have enough funds. Rented, sheltered accommodation, so no house to sell. Her bank account was closed less than a month after her death and her affairs wrapped up.
At the time of DGM's death, I notified her occupational pension company by phone and sent off a copy of her death certificate.
Last month I received a letter from the pension company stating that there was an over payment made to my DGM dating from April this year. I wrote back to them telling them that DGM's affairs had been closed and as I notified them at the time of her death, I shouldn't be held responsible for an admin error which occurred 9 months after her death. I contacted her bank and they advised me that as her account was closed, they couldn't investigate where the money was but in such a situation, the money would be returned to the pension company. I wrote back to the pension company saying this.
I got a letter back saying that they had not received the money back and actually, the over payment was issued in August 2018, a month after her death, which does make a bit more sense. The amount equates to a week's pension, if that makes a difference.
My question is a) am I responsible for paying this debt? I feel like they have taken over a year to raise this with me and therefore they can't be reasonable in wanting this money now. Secondly, the money she did have covered her very meagre funeral and paying off debts we knew of. I don't know if it makes a difference but no one inherited anything, in fact the bank were owed £200, which they wrote off.
If you got to the end of this, thanks you and any advice would be appreciated.