Debt after death help
Discussion
I am sorry for your loss. Write to the credit card company explaining that you are executor and that the estate has insufficient assets to pay the sums due. Send a copy of the Will and of the death certificate. The card issuer will probably write off the debt. Sell the van and bike to cover funeral costs.
Echo sorry for you loss.
A number of years back I lost my dad - my mum was all over the place, especially once all these bills came rolling in from credit card companies and the like.
His asset list was small - a car with a £2000 value and around £1500 cash.
I wrote on her behalf explaining how big my dad's estate was and that it would not cover the bill. To the smaller bills that could be covered, I wrote that although the estate could cover this amount, there are a number of creditors and that we would be in a position to offer an amount against the debt once we had full information.
With each one I included an original of the death certificate.
Every single one wrote back saying that the debt was considered written-off with the proviso that should any further funds be found in his estate that they should be informed. This included Northern Rock who he owed around £10k to.
Good luck and remember there is help out there if you need it - don't feel alone in all this.
A number of years back I lost my dad - my mum was all over the place, especially once all these bills came rolling in from credit card companies and the like.
His asset list was small - a car with a £2000 value and around £1500 cash.
I wrote on her behalf explaining how big my dad's estate was and that it would not cover the bill. To the smaller bills that could be covered, I wrote that although the estate could cover this amount, there are a number of creditors and that we would be in a position to offer an amount against the debt once we had full information.
With each one I included an original of the death certificate.
Every single one wrote back saying that the debt was considered written-off with the proviso that should any further funds be found in his estate that they should be informed. This included Northern Rock who he owed around £10k to.
Good luck and remember there is help out there if you need it - don't feel alone in all this.
OP, sorry for your loss.
When my father died 12 years ago he left a £6.5K debt on a credit card (HSBC) and nothing else apart from the family house which passed to my mum. I went to a local HSBC branch informing them of the death and they sent me a very simple form to fill out and sign and the debt was subsequently written off.
The funeral costs may well have to be funded by the sale of the van and bike.
When my father died 12 years ago he left a £6.5K debt on a credit card (HSBC) and nothing else apart from the family house which passed to my mum. I went to a local HSBC branch informing them of the death and they sent me a very simple form to fill out and sign and the debt was subsequently written off.
The funeral costs may well have to be funded by the sale of the van and bike.
Sorry to hear of your partner's death.
Although much of the advice is good common sense you need to be very careful. There are special legal rules relating to insolvent estates set out in the Administration of Insolvent Estates of Deceased Persons Order 1986, and if you don't take account of these it's possible that you would incur personal liability to one or more of the creditors.
It's often the best option to `renounce probate' and let one of the creditors deal with it.
There's a helpful article here - https://lcf.co.uk/insolvent-estate/
Although much of the advice is good common sense you need to be very careful. There are special legal rules relating to insolvent estates set out in the Administration of Insolvent Estates of Deceased Persons Order 1986, and if you don't take account of these it's possible that you would incur personal liability to one or more of the creditors.
It's often the best option to `renounce probate' and let one of the creditors deal with it.
There's a helpful article here - https://lcf.co.uk/insolvent-estate/
Thank you all for the help and taking time to reply, the major debt is in one credit card company, it was swapped to an interest free card two weeks before the untimely death, I have informed them and they are going to send a letter out asking for death certificate etc, at the moment I only have the interim death certificate, the proper version could take up to 3 months, can I use the interim certificate or have a got to wait for the final death certificate?
snowwolf said:
Thank you all for the help and taking time to reply, the major debt is in one credit card company, it was swapped to an interest free card two weeks before the untimely death, I have informed them and they are going to send a letter out asking for death certificate etc, at the moment I only have the interim death certificate, the proper version could take up to 3 months, can I use the interim certificate or have a got to wait for the final death certificate?
No my field so not legal advice.I would send them a copy of the interim and say in the covering letter that you will send them a certified copy of the certificate once it is available.
I'm guessing (and could be wrong) that the cause of death is in question and/or circumstances hence the delay.
IMO, and it has served me well through my life, being open, credible, and candid is often just as important as making sure you tick the right box the first time. You are a lay person and so will be 'judged' by those standards. Likewise no serious lender will ever risk a Daily Mail Compo face article unless they think someone is not playing with a straight bat so will usually be as helpful as reasonably possible.
Sorry for your loss.
Renouncing your role of executor is usually recommended for insolvent estates. However , in this case it would be a problem as the assets are not liquid so can't be readily used for paying funeral costs, which at £4500 do seem a tad high. Selling the vehicles may be deemed to be intermeddling, meaning you are taking on the role of executor, it's a grey area but If you were to do this I'd do it sooner rather than later before telling the creditors , who will ask you about the deceased's assets.
There was not a lot more I could add to the original message other than what it is, my partner has only a motorcycle and a van to his name, he had credit card debt, I don’t use fancy words, the burial costs are what they are, in my opening post I didn’t mention about selling the assets, I am the executioner of the will as my name is listed, if I had died first the executioner would have been my partner, if we both died then it would have been the next on the list, thanks for all the reply’s guys, much appreciated and will send off the replies with death certificates to the credit card companies as suggested
Edited by snowwolf on Thursday 21st February 23:57
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