Spend It or Lose It: Unspent Savings Returned to Dept. of Social Protection

Oliver, a frugal electrician, passed away leaving a will. Oliver left one house and some land in Galway in addition to a sum of money in a bank account. Oliver was receiving a means tested old age pension. When Oliver applied for the pension, he disclosed all his assets to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Oliver lived alone, spent extraordinarily little money and saved a large amount of his pension. Oliver did not have any children, but his nephew would visit him from time to time bringing groceries.

When applying for a grant of probate a document called the SA2 must be lodged with Revenue three months before the estate can be administered. The SA2 sets out all the deceased persons assets and liabilities at the date of their death.

On his death it was discovered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs from the information set out in the SA2 that Oliver has exceeded the sum of savings allowable to be entitled to a non-contributory old age pension. The Department reclaimed from his estate the sums overpaid to Oliver during his lifetime.

It is sad to think that Oliver was so careful with saving his money during his lifetime only to lose a large percentage of it in death for that very reason.

These cases highlight the importance of being honest with the Department of social and family affairs in relation to any payment you are receiving.

The above story is true. However, the names of the people involved, and the locations, have been changed to protect their privacy.