Friday, May 13, 2005

Case of the Week: 5/9/2005

County: Randolph
Age: 68

Client was contacted by the Department of Labor regarding an overpayment of Blacklung benefits to her deceased father. The Department of Labor was holding the client responsible as executor of her father's estate. I contacted the claims examiner on my client's behalf and explained that to the best of my client's knowledge the deceased left nothing in his estate. Moreover, the overpayments were never used for my client's benefit. Her father passed away at a nursing home with no assets. As a result, the estate was never probated. The claims examiner investigated the estate of the client's father and notified me that the debt will be written-off as uncollectable. Our client will no longer be held responsible for her father's overpayment.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I, too had a run in with the folks at Black Lung. After my Mother passed away I called both Social Security & balck Lung benefits to notify them & ask them what to do with her check--I was told by Black Lung because my Mother died in the month--she was entitled to the ck--my sister who was very upset about not being named as executrix of Mother's estate foun out contacted them & made a big deal out of it--she presented this information to the local county commission who knows nothing about legal issues-removed me as executrix. Maybe this is exactly why West Virginia gets its reputation.