A Brisbane welfare cheat who secretly pocketed more than $130,000 of her husband's dole money over nine years has been jailed.

Faivalu Alo Esera, 54, plead guilty in Brisbane's District Court this morning to a single charge of defrauding the Commonwealth and obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The court heard the mother of four had been responsible for notifying Centrelink that her once-unemployed husband had taken a job and should no longer receive welfare benefits.

Instead, she continued to collect the money to the tune of $131,024 between June 1995 and October 2004, an average of about $14,000 a year.

The court also heard Alo Esera forged her husband's signature on two occasions in order to continue to receive the benefits.

The money was paid into an account that Alo Esera's husband did not access and she took full responsibility for the fraud, her lawyer said.

In sentencing Alo Esera, Judge Julie Ryrie accepted her defence that the money wasn't taken out of greed but financial distress.

Lawyers for Alo Esera, who was a founding member of the Samoan Uniting Church in Inala, said she had two daughters who were drug users who habitually stole money and items from her.

Alo Esera's husband would beat his children and his wife when he believed they had done something wrong, the court heard.

The money was used to pay household bills and care for two of Alo Esera's grandchildren, whom she cared for full-time.

"Unfortunately, your husband - like many in your community - uses physical violence to sort out their problems," Judge Ryrie said.

Judge Ryrie said Alo Esera's circumstances "explained but did not excuse" her actions.

Alo Esera was sentenced to three years imprisonment, to be released after nine months.

She was also ordered to pay back $109,000 to the government.