Elizabeth Eykel, who died last year, with her late husband Barry and son Tony, at home in Napier. Photo / supplied
Elizabeth Eykel, who died last year, with her late husband Barry and son Tony, at home in Napier. Photo / supplied
Stress piled on to grief when a family received a letter from Work and Income soon after their 92-year-old mother’s death, offering sympathy but asking for $1800 for her benefit overpayment.
Helen Moore and her brother Tony Eykel, of Napier, worried they could be liable for the debt as their late mother Elizabeth Eykel had only $40 in her estate.
After Herald inquiries, Work and Income, part of the Ministry of Social Development, contacted the siblings to confirm they were not on the hook for the money.
It has vowed to improve the wording of such letters, to “not cause undue anxiety in terms of liability for debt”.
Helen moved in with her mother and Tony, who has disabilities, about six years ago, and helped look after both of them.
Her mother’s savings were eaten up towards the end of her life with care and related costs. She sold her car to raise funds and died on December 24 last year after a short time in end-of-life care at a rest home and hospital.
Helen and Tony scrape by on her carer’s benefit and his pension. They will use a Visa card to cover unexpected bills, including for an ambulance used by their mum.
That financial stress worsened when they received the letter from Work and Income, dated January 7 and addressed to the administrator of her estate.
“We are sorry to hear of Elizabeth Eykel’s death and would like to offer you our sympathy. We appreciate this is a difficult time and we hope this letter will answer some of the questions you may have,” it said.
The letter outlined when her superannuation payments would stop, and then detailed two debts, both for benefit overpayments, totalling $1807.65, “which must be repaid when the estate is being settled”.
Details for how to pay by direct credit or internet banking were given.
Work and Income has defended sending debt collection letters soon after a person's death, but says the wording of such correspondence will be improved. Photo / File
“I’d gone to the chemist, and I got back and my brother had that letter and he was in a right state,” Helen said. “He was in shock. He was quite worked up about it - ‘We will end up homeless’.”
The siblings knew Work and Income was taking $10 a week from payments to their mum for the past benefit overpayments, which Helen said were the agency’s fault.
She Googled their rights and found they were not personally liable, as well as an August 2021 Herald article about a woman whose husband died of dementia being sent a Work and Income letter demanding money for an apparent superannuation overpayment, shortly after his death.
In response to that 2021 report, Work and Income said it would review whether sending debt collection letters within days of a death was appropriate.
Paula Ratahi O’Neill, MSD’s general manager of centralised services, confirmed Helen and Tony were not personally responsible for their late mother’s debts, which “is why the letter was addressed to the administrator of the estate of Elizabeth Eykel”.
“The family applied for and has been granted a funeral grant this week, and as part of this process the estate was deemed to have minimal assets, and so the debt owed by the estate has been written off.
“The family will receive a letter in the coming days to confirm this, and I hope it goes some way to putting their minds at ease.”
Ratahi O’Neill said any potential creditors have a responsibility to make contact in a reasonable time to help settle the affairs of an estate, and “it is important we provide this information promptly”.
The case differed from the 2021 story, she said, as that involved a widow, rather than children. When a person who dies was in a marriage or domestic partnership any debt to MSD is considered shared debt and the responsibility of both parties.
The promised work to look at the timing of such letters never happened because of the Covid-19 pandemic response, she said, but “the feedback we receive from our clients is that one size doesn’t fit everyone in terms of timing”.
Elizabeth Eykel, who died last year, with her late husband Barry and son Tony, at home in Napier. Photo / supplied
“While some appreciate a delay in correspondence after the death of a loved one, for others a delay causes anxiety because they don’t have all the information they need to settle an estate.
“For example, if a person dies and they have a surviving spouse, quite often sending information early is something which is welcomed. It’s clear when payments are stopped for the deceased partner and how the surviving partner’s payments will change as a result of this.
“However it is important that letters do not cause undue anxiety in terms of liability for debt. We will be making changes to letters to make sure they are as clear as possible for families dealing with these difficult situations. We expect this work will be completed in the first half of this year.”
