Social Welfare backpayments

Just got a letter from Social Welfare in relation to a relatives probate for a very large sum of money. The deceased person was elderly and saved most of his pension instead of spending it all every week. He had no dependants and was in poor health as well. Some of what he left went to pay the solicitor dealing with the will. Can his social welfare bill be negotiated down a bit. In shock here at the moment.

Does the estate owe the money?

If the relative was not entitled to the Social Welfare payment, then it must be repaid out of the estate.

Is there money in the estate?

mf

There is money left but about €10000 short and property which is proving difficult to sell at the moment due to issues with it.

What do you mean by "social welfare bill"? Is it for nursing home care?

No, he had some savings and property which he failed to tell them about when he should have but he was very private about his affairs. We only found this out after he died. He was drawing a non contrib pension so they want the overpayment back in 21 days.

sardonic said:

No, he had some savings and property which he failed to tell them about when he should have but he was very private about his affairs. We only found this out after he died. He was drawing a non contrib pension so they want the overpayment back in 21 days.

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Why are you so worried about it?

It can only be paid when the estate is resolved?

Unless, of course, some of the money due has already been distributed?

I love the idea that he was very private about his affairs! Which is why he didn't tell them about his assets when claiming SW!

mf

He wasn't close to any of his family so they hadn't a clue about what he had or hadn't. You're right about some of the money being distributed but no one was expecting a bill of this size.

Sounds like nobody cancelled his pension when he died and by the time SW discovered it most of the money had been distributed. Who distributed the money or who looked after his affairs.

Had SW been informed of the death they would be first in there to claim the overpayment. You need to engage with SW and get details of the reason for overpayment and try to negotiate a settlement, perhaps a lump sum now and the remainder on the sale of the property.

This is not an unusual situation. I assume that this person may have genuinely been entitled to the Non-Con Pension when he first applied and as he did not spend it accumulated to beyond the level of savings allowed by SW. Hence the clawback.

His Social Welfare card was sent back immediately after he died and he was on dole before he reached pension age so probably didn't realise he had to declare the property he owned as he didn't have any income from it. Long story and very complicated reasons why he couldn't get rid of it. There was a burden on the property and his hands were tied. So hope that a settlement can be reached with Social Welfare.
His Solicitor is looking after everything.

So to clarify, this property was owned by him but he was not living there ? Has the rest of the estate been distibuted ?

The property was uninhabitable and there is about 2/3 of available funds to pay the backpayments.