My customer (now Aged 65) moved in with his elderly Aunt 2 years ago as her carer. She died in January and left him the flat they were both living in. He has not maintained a home elsewhere, nor does he own any other property.

His Aunt had an overpayment several years prior to her death that she was repaying (we think of Income Support). DWP want to recover the rest (approx £4,800) from my customer.

They are quoting right to recover in accordance with Administration of Estates Act 1925 section 32 and sect.25 Although he has been left the flat, he is unable to realise this as an asset as it is his home, in some other areas of Social Security legislation, the value of this property may be disregarded.

It seems a little harsh to press on with recovery as he will have to make arrangements to repay in instalments or the DWP could place a land charge on his house and recover when he eventually sells.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me, it’s not something I’ve dealt with before and I’m not sure whether there is anywhere to go with this.

Thanks

Presumably they want to recover from the estate and not your customer directly.

Who is the executor; your customer, bank, solicitor or someone else?

Thanks for the reply, yes its the estate they want to recover from and the estate is just the flat. The Nephew is the executor as far as I am aware.

The following is from the www.legalservices.gov.uk.

I post it merely as a starting point from which to understand your client's position.

"What if there isn't enough money to pay the person's debts?
When someone dies, their debts don't die with them. They have to be paid out of the person's estate. If you are administering an estate, you must make sure you have paid all the debts you know about before you pay the beneficiaries. If you are not sure you do know about all of them, you need to advertise in the London Gazette and a local paper for two months for anyone who may have a claim on the estate, or you become liable for the debts.
If there is not enough money to pay for all the debts, they must be paid in a particular order. If the dead person owned a mortgaged property, the debt to the bank or building society is first to be repaid. After this, you need to pay:
1. the funeral expenses and 'testamentary' expenses (those to do with dealing with the will);
2. the Inland Revenue;
3. Customs and Excise;
4. Social Security (including refunding any over-payment of benefits); and
5. unpaid pension contributions or wages.
If all the debts can be paid, but there isn't enough money left to pay everything set out in the will, the legacies (those where a specific amount is mentioned) will be paid first, and other people mentioned will get what is left over.
If there is not enough to pay all the legacies, the people entitled to the legacies will get a proportion of what they have been left, depending on how much money is available. The other people mentioned in the will get nothing".

Therefore, the executor or administrator may be liable for the debt to the Department and not the nephew (if he was not the administrator)if the proper procedure was not followed.

If the proper procedure was followed and the Department did not come forward in time and the estate was then settled, then the Department may not be able to recover.

There is then, of course, the Department's rights as to methods of recovery. Recovery would be at common law and it is unlikely (if the nephew was liable) that the court would order him to sell the property.

It would be more likely, as originally suggested, that the Department would register a legal charge on the property and recover on future sale.

Regards
Paul