The Gazette 1987

JULY/ A UGUST

1987

GAZETTE

after his death (s. 125). Finally, s. 112(4) empowers the Minister to make regulations providing that probate or other proof of title of the personal representative of any deceased person may be dispensed within the case of payment of social welfare payments and also providing for the manner of distribution of such payment. The implementing regulations here are the Social Welfare (Claims and Payments) Regulations, 1952, in particular art. 17 thereof. Hereinafter referred to simply as "the old age pension". It should be noted that the s t a t u t o ry provisions considered in this article also apply to the Blind Pension, which originated as a variant of the old age pension. The statutory conditions for receipt of the non-contributory old age pension are that the claimant has attained 66 years of age and that he satisfies the appropriate means test. A claimant is disqualified — if he is absent from the State; is imprisoned for any offence; is in receipt of a contributory old age pension; or during the six month period following the date of a conviction under s. 169(1) of the 1981 Act. The relevant regulations are the Social Welfare (General Benefit) Regulations 1 9 53 (S. I. No. 16/1953), as amended by S. I. No. 126/1963. See The State (Hoo/ahan) -v- Min. for Social Welfare, unreported. High Court, 23 July, 1986. Recently applied by the Supreme Court in D.P.P. -v- Scott Grey, unreported, 12 March 1986. This can also be claimed as a grant in respect of funeral expenses — s. 53. n 2. 3. 4. S. 125 of the 1981 Act. 5. 6. 7. FOOTNOTES 1.

age pension under s. 169(3) is absolute in its terms and does not depend on the establishment of fraud. To the extent that there is any inconsistency between these two provisions in relation to the old age pension, it would appear to be resolved in favour of the appli- cation of s. 169(3), by virtue of the presumption of statutory inter- pretation, genera/ia special/bus non derogant, i.e. general provisions do not derogate from specific ones. 6 Section 174 The third reference to personal re- presentatives in this part of the 1981 Act occurs in s.174. Again a liability is imposed but, unlike ss. 169 ( 3) and 172 ( 2 ), on this occasion it is a personal one. S. 1 74(1) provides: The personal representative of a person who at any time was in receipt of old age pension, shall, at the request of a social welfare officer made for the purposes of an inquiry and report in relation to the pension, and within such period (not being less than 30 days) as may be specified in the request: (a) furnish to the officer such information, books and docu- ments relating to the affairs of the person which are in the power, possession or pro- curement of the personal re- p r esen t a t i ve as he may reasonably require and permit the officer to take extracts from the books and docu- ments and furnish to him such information as he may reasonably require in relation to such extracts, and (b) authorise the officer to inspect any entries relating to the affairs of the person in the books of any bank (including any savings bank) and to take copies of such entries and furnish to the officer such in- formation which is within the power, possession or pro- curement of the personal representative as he may reasonably require in relation to such entries. Failure to comply with s. 1 74(1) is an offence punishable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year, or

to both such fine and imprison- ment,' or on conviction on indict- ment to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or to both such fine and imprisonment. Where a deceased claimant was in receipt of a non-contributory old age pension. S. 174(3) further requires the personal represent- ative to notify the Minister in writing, not less than three months before the distribution of assets occurs, of his intention to distribute such assets. A personal represen- tative «who contravenes sub- section 3 shall be personally liable to repay to the Minister an amount equal to the amount, if any, which was due to the Minister from the estate in respect of overpaid old age pension. Miscellaneous It is worth noting a number of mis- cellaneous aspects of the social welfare code which are of interest in this context. By virtue of s. 1 20 of the 1981 Act, unpaid social insurance contributions form part of the "preferential debts" which rank after funeral, testamentary and administration expenses in the administration of the estate. If a health board incurred expense in relation to the burial of the deceased, it may obtain repayment of such expenses from the estate of the deceased, or indeed, from any person liable to maintain the deceased immmediately before his death - s. 216 of the 1981 Act. On the credit side, it should be noted that a number of social welfare payments fall due on the death of a person. Wi dows' pensions are, perhaps, the most obvious, but in addition it may be possible to claim a death grant (ss. 107 — 109); a survivor's benefit, for a widower who is incapable of self-support by reason of some physical or mental infirmity and whose wife had been in receipt of retirement pension or contributory old age pension (s. 87); and death benefit if the deceased died as a result of an occupational accident or disease (ss. 49 —53 ) . 7 Further- more, if the deceased had been in receipt of any one of a number of specified social welfare payments and had an adult dependant, his social welfare payment continues to be paid for a period of 6 weeks

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