The Provincial Court of Pontevedra has acquitted the heirs of a woman who charged 165,058.69 euros of her mother’s widow’s pension for almost 30 years after her death. The Social Institute of the Navy (Social Security) demanded that they return the money after the death of the woman, but for the court, although it admits that there was an improper collection, the action to demand it had prescribed, since more than four years had passed since the last income before the procedure began.
Everything begins, when Sofia, widow, charged a widow’s pension until she died in 1987. After this, her daughter, Reyes, she did not communicate it to Social Security (Social Institute of the Navy) which allowed it to continue charging the benefit, since it was entering every month and without anyone detecting it. This situation continued for almost 30 years, until April 2016.
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Social Security, when he realized, found that the original owner of the pension had died decades before and that the payments had continued to improper during all that time, which in total were 165,058.69 euros. At that time, he managed to recover part of the money, specifically, 40,810.62 euros by the Abanca entity, which corresponded to the available balance now setbacks in recent years. Subsequently, Social Security demanded to Reyes the return of the rest of the amounts, about 124,248 euros.
During the process of claiming the amounts charged unduly, Reyes died, so social security proceeded to claim money from their children and heirs. At this point, the heirs opposed the lawsuit claiming that the claim was prescribed at age four, as established in article 55 of the General Social Security Law, while the ISM argued that the general period of 15 years provided for in the Civil Code for personal actions for personal actions should be applied. Thus and since Social Security did not prove him right they decided to go to court.
Debts prescribe at four years
In the first instance, the Court of First Instance number 1 of Pontevedra was right to the Social Institute of the Navy (ISM), although partially and condemned Doña Reyes to return 47,999.42 euros, with subsidiary civil liability of Abanca in case of default. In this Chamber, the Court applied a prescription period of 15 years, understanding that it was a collection action of the undue in accordance with article 1964 of the Civil Code.
Both social security and the heirs were not satisfied, so they decided to go to the Provincial Court of Pontevedra. In this Chamber, Social Security claimed that the deadline should be computed since the death of Mrs. Sofía, in 2016, and that the prescription had been interrupted with the efforts made that same year. On the other hand, Abanca and the heirs challenged the sentence, defending that the 4 -year prescription period of article 55 of the General Law of Social Security should be applied, and that since more than that time has elapsed since the last income, the claim was no longer enforceable.
Given the facts, the Provincial Court decided to prove the heirs and Abanca. The Court explained that according to article 55 of the General Law of Social Security, it also applies to the heirs, since the obligation to return the benefits charged unduly. In this way, the debt prescribed at four years. For all this and having passed many more than four years since the last income before the procedure was initiated, the action was prescribed, so they will not have to return anything of the 165,058.69 euros that their mother collided improperly.