The recovery from estates section is part of the Benefits Agency.

Its objective is to identify, calculate and recover overpaid income support (supplementary benefit prior to 1988) arising from undisclosed assets discovered after death.When recovery from estates matches the report of the death of someone who was receving income support with details of a grant of representaton (received from probate registries), a copy grant is requested and the actual assets available to the deceased are compared to the capital and assets declared for the purpose of claiming income support.

Where there is a discrepancy, information about the estate is requested from the legal personal representative.

(Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 126).Following investigation, it can be confirmed that in many cases, income support has been correctly paid, but in some cases it is found that too much income support has been paid and the overpayment is recoverable from the estate.

(Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 71(1)(2)(3) & (5))Because of the time taken to receive notifications of death, lists of grants of representation and copy grants, the recovery from estates section may not be able to start their enquiries for six to eight weeks.

Appreciative of the problems this may cause, the section is able to accept enquiries from solicitors dealing with the estate of someone who was in receipt of income support at death.The information about the deceased person required for this 'fast track' system is as follows:-- Surname and first name(s)-- Date of death-- National Insurance Number-- Date of birth-- Address-- Details and composition of the estateIt would be helpful if the letter could be headed 'Solicitor instigated enquiry' and sent or faxed to the address below.On receipt of the above information, recovery from estates can quickly determine whether or not an overpayment has occurred and written confirmation of this will be issued within days.

It should be noted that the local office which dealt with the payment of income support is not able to give such confirmation.

The length of time taken to calculate any overpayment will vary for individual cases depending on the period of the claim to benefit and the availability of financial information.

The section will, wherever possible, give an indication of the time required and amounts involved.-- Recover from estates: Government Buildings; Otley Road, Lawnswood, Leeds LS16 5PU; telephone 0113 230 9000, extension 3429; fax 0113 230 9080