£8,000 pension bill for grieving Bentilee sisters
GRIEVING sisters are being asked to repay £8,000 by the Department of Work and Pensions – which was owed by their mother who died two years ago.
When Hilda Trethaway, of Ubberley Road, died on November 22, 2010, aged 83, she had life savings of about £16,000 in an ISA account.
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Anger: Karen Gratton, left, and Jennifer Tretheway
That was partly used to pay for her funeral, and the rest was split between her five surviving children and 10 grandchildren.
Around eight months later, her daughter Wendy Turner, who was named as executor of the will, received a bill from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for £6,500.
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That debt, based on pensions Mrs Trethaway had failed to declare, was later amended to £8,000.
The family took the matter to a tribunal earlier this year, but were told they must pay.
Now Mrs Turner and her sisters Jennifer Trethaway and Karen Gratton are sharing the debt, which they say they were not aware of – and if they had been told about earlier, could have been settled from their mother's estate.
Jennifer, aged 53, of Canary Road, Bentilee, said: "When mum died we had to go to probate to get the ISA. We had her bills to pay and the funeral itself, which cost £3,500.
"Mum always said that there was money to pay for her funeral and whatever was left she wanted us to have.
"We loved our mum to bits and she had always wanted a horse and carriage at her funeral. We wanted to give her a really good send off.
"Then, about eight months later, we started getting letters from the DWP, saying mum had been overpaid by £6,500.
"We disputed it, but then the next thing the DWP came back with a figure of £8,000.
"Our dad, John Trethaway, died when I was 16 years old and mum had a pension from British Rail, where he worked.
"She also had a top-up pension which she didn't declare. None of us knew anything about it.
"Mum scrimped and saved all her life. She had not got a penny when dad died, but she had six kids to bring up.
"We are not disputing that she didn't owe the money, but why should we have to pay it?
"If we had known about it 12 months earlier, we could have done something about it.
"Only Wendy is liable to pay, because she is the executor of the will, but Karen and I have said we will help too.
"Mum would be turning in her grave to see this. She loved us and she wanted us to have a little bit of something when she died, not a load of debt."
Karen, aged 49, of Dawlish Drive, Bentilee, said: "Mum wouldn't have deliberately not declared anything. She was not that kind of person.
"She worked hard all her life as a care assistant. She was still working at the age of 70.
"This is causing big problems for us and it is something people should be aware of."
The DWP was unavailable for comment.
Comments
by lanternhead
Sunday, October 28 2012, 6:19PM
“some families would say if you want the money go and dig her up, and i have kmown those words used but they never got chased for the debt.”
by johnboy2011
Sunday, October 28 2012, 10:13AM
“jaymo79, got it, I misread it I didn't see she had other pensions, is that case you're absolutely right.”
by sausagelord
Sunday, October 28 2012, 10:07AM
“Johnboy: "There was a time that if a person died owing money, the debt died with them."
So if you were owed a substantial amount of money by someone who has died, would you be happy to forego payment? I suspect you'd be contacting their estate pretty sharpish!”
by jaymo79
Sunday, October 28 2012, 9:38AM
“Johnboy the article relates to an undeclared pension not savings. You can't claim state pension at the highest rate and have a widows pension and a top up pension on top. If somebody was claiming benefits and working, there would be no sympathy. I'm sorry this family have lost a lady they obviously love but at the end of the day other incomes were not declared when they should have and she was not entitled to the money. I'm not saying it was deliberate, but this kind of action means there is less in the pot for those who really need it.”
by johnboy2011
Sunday, October 28 2012, 8:36AM
“I can see your point Anon, the thing is we were told years ago that the state pension or old age pension what ever you want to call it, was a protected income for old people and unaffected by how much one want's to save towards their retirement. That's why old folks used call their savings their nest egg, and one of the reasons old people stopped stashing cash under their mattress, and put in the bank. But the government has now changed all the rules and says today if you have saved for your retirement those savings are taken into account when you receive your old age pension. The point I'm trying to make is that this old lady would not have thought her savings would affect her pension. And I think that is reason for the 8 month delay in chasing this up. Almost half of your NI contributions is paid in to the state pension, every week for about 50 years of your working life, and the contributions increase every year with the cost of living, that's a whole lot of money over 50 years, and then to be told that some of it will be taken off you, because you your own savings, is not right.”
by Anon_mow_cop
Saturday, October 27 2012, 10:19PM
“I feel sorry for these ladies, but as the old saying goes "Emotion never won an agument". The pesnsion should have been declared then this situation would have never arose.”
by johnboy2011
Saturday, October 27 2012, 4:03PM
“It has everything to do with the government, DWP is a government department.
If this lady has worked all her life and scrimped and saved for her retirement, and has sadly died and left her money to her family which she dearly loved, why should her daughter have to pay half of it to the DWP, and how come it took them 8 months to find out they had overpaid her. The whole thing stinks if you ask me. There was a time that if a person died owing money, the debt died with them.”
by Nezzer89
Saturday, October 27 2012, 2:30PM
“Nothing to do with this government, these are the rules of the DWP. Rules are rules, if we assume they don't apply to everybody then nobody will feel obliged to follow them.”
by johnboy2011
Saturday, October 27 2012, 1:28PM
“This government is unreal not content with bleeding us all dry, they are now taking money off the deceased.”
by jimlee202
Saturday, October 27 2012, 1:11PM
“The money was fraudulently obtained. It's owed by the mother's estate.
Get it repaid! End of!”