Debt liability after death

[sparkythecat]

I know that I need proper legal advice, but as it will be a few days before that can be sought, I thought I'd ask opinion on here.

The wife of a friend of mine passed away 2 years ago. She left a will and my friend, her husband was the executor and sole beneficiary of her estate.
My friend himself sadly passed away a couple of months ago and I am now the executor of his estate.
A letter arrived today addressed to the executor of the estate of the wife. It was from a debt recovery company asking that executor (ie my late friend) for settlement of the late wife's outstanding debt from her estate.
Obviously I'm not the executor of the wife's estate, but as the executor of the husband's estate , am I now obliged to settle this debt from his estate?

[Largechris]

I think generally your debt dies with you, but there'll be loads of exceptions depending on what it was. e.g. if it was a loan secured on a joint property then that's probably still owed, but on the other hand life insurance might have been built into the loan....

If it was a personal, unsecured debt, then I would be pretty sure that debt is cancelled. What sort of debt is it?

[sparkythecat]

The debt recovery company are acting on behalf of another debt management company, but they say the original debt is owed to Capital One, so I'm guessing that it's a credit card debt.

[Bennet]

Largechris said:

I think generally your debt dies with you

Only if the creditor decides to write it off rather than chase the estate for it.

[Largechris]

So that is unsecured. Although when I said that debt dies with you, I was thinking of the case of someone literally dying in debt, ie with assets less than liabilities.

I would imagine technically if there is a net value to her estate then creditors will be entitled to be paid. Whether they will bother chasing the money probably depends on the size of the debt and complexity of the case.

[Pedro25]

If it helps when my stepfather passed my mum received a letter from the Halifax stating that he had a debt on a debit card for around £6k, card was in his name only and he used it to place bets with one of the online gaming firms for the horses. Halifax asked my mother to clear the debt, she didn't even know he had the card or account? I wrote to them told them to politely do one as he had no assets to speak of, a week later mum got a letter stating the card debt had been cancelled.

[Psycho Warren]

As long as you process the estate properly you will never be liable for a penny.

Its possible he screwed it up making himself liable for some of the debt, but hes now dead.

If you are not sure how to do it, then seek professional advice.

[martinbiz]

Psycho Warren said:

As long as you process the estate properly you will never be liable for a penny.

Its possible he screwed it up making himself liable for some of the debt, but hes now dead.

If you are not sure how to do it, then seek professional advice.

As you or anyone else on here are not privy to the finer details of any deceased persons estate, how can you make a blanket statement like that, ridicluous thing to say

[Chrisgr31]

Do you know if probate was granted on the wife's estate? I would suspect that might make a difference. The letter is written to the executor of the wife's estate so it is not addressed to you I assume therefore they believe that probate is not granted.

Any idea of the size of the debt? It may be they have an eye on the value of the house.

[sparkythecat]

The couple lived in rented accommodation and had no savings. Probate wasn't necessary to sort out either estate. The debt in question is less than £1000

[surveyor]

I would be very tempted to write back and say that the executor has died, and simply let them unpick that.

[Boosted LS1]

It'll go away.

A CC firm won't hound a dead persons estate for that amount of money. For a start they need to provide proof of the debt and it's enforcibility. It's just not worth the hassle.

This forum is very useful and will certainly be able to help if you need it.


https://all-about-debt.co.uk/

[HocusPocus]

Persuading a dead executor to pay off the debts of another dead person falls within the waaaay too difficult category for recovering £1000. Just tell them you saw the letter addressed to your friend, but advise them out of courtesy that he has passed away.

It will be written off, and I doubt they will bother writing again to the dead man.

[Trax]

It’s nothing to do with his estate, and should have been written of when she died, assuming credit card in her name

[anonymous-user]

sparkythecat said:

I know that I need proper legal advice, but as it will be a few days before that can be sought, I thought I'd ask opinion on here.

The wife of a friend of mine passed away 2 years ago. She left a will and my friend, her husband was the executor and sole beneficiary of her estate.
My friend himself sadly passed away a couple of months ago and I am now the executor of his estate.
A letter arrived today addressed to the executor of the estate of the wife. It was from a debt recovery company asking that executor (ie my late friend) for settlement of the late wife's outstanding debt from her estate.
Obviously I'm not the executor of the wife's estate, but as the executor of the husband's estate , am I now obliged to settle this debt from his estate?

This states it's now your responsibility to sort out the wife's estate too.

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/...

[Psycho Warren]

martinbiz said:

As you or anyone else on here are not privy to the finer details of any deceased persons estate, how can you make a blanket statement like that, ridicluous thing to say

Because its a statement of fact.

The only possible way he could have any liability for a friends debt is if he was a garuntor on some shadey poor peoples rip of loan.

Hes not his partner, legal or otherwise, not living in the same household etc so as long as he does his job as executor correctly, he can never be stung for the dead persons debt.

[steve_naive]

Boosted LS1 said:

It'll go away.

A CC firm won't hound a dead persons estate for that amount of money. For a start they need to provide proof of the debt and it's enforcibility. It's just not worth the hassle.

This forum is very useful and will certainly be able to help if you need it.


https://all-about-debt.co.uk/

Tesco Bank passed my late wife's 1k-ish credit card onto a debt collection agency. It does happen.

I was tempted to ignore it but had the cash anyway, so paid it.

[sparkythecat]

surveyor said:

I would be very tempted to write back and say that the executor has died, and simply let them unpick that.

I'm inclined to agree.

If they do indeed have a legitimate claim on my late friend's estate, then that's fair enough and it will of course be settled, but as a quick Google reveals numerous allegations of sharp practice and dubious conduct against this company, I won't go out of my way to make their job easier for them.

[elanfan]

Just write back and state that what little was left in the original estate has already been distributed. There’s nothing left to pay you. Bye.

[BertBert]

Psycho Warren said:

martinbiz said:

As you or anyone else on here are not privy to the finer details of any deceased persons estate, how can you make a blanket statement like that, ridicluous thing to say

Because its a statement of fact.

The only possible way he could have any liability for a friends debt is if he was a garuntor on some shadey poor peoples rip of loan.

Hes not his partner, legal or otherwise, not living in the same household etc so as long as he does his job as executor correctly, he can never be stung for the dead persons debt.

well that's all jolly interesting, but completely off topic as that's not what the OP asked.