Dealing with mother in laws Estate debt issues

[Rich44]

Hi all

 

Sadly my mother in law passed away in December my wife her only child is dealing with the estate.

 

Unfortunately we've found she had run up large debts with catalogues and a huge credit card balance (£4,000 for someone on benefits!)

 

It gets complicated as my wife's aunt died in October and the mother in law was dealing with her Estate

and as such had her life insurance paid into her account and unfortunately she died before settling that Estate.

 

she had a credit card with her bank and the bank are claiming all the money in her account to pay the credit card off.

 

As there won't be enough money to pay every creditor what they're owed

can the bank legally lay claim to everything?

 

 

I thought we'd gather everything together then work out a % to offer creditors

if the bank holds onto the current account money there will be less money for other creditors.

 

I have CCA'd everyone and not one has sent the info back times up on weds.

 

Any advice would be great thank you

[dx100uk]

if theres no money in the estate

they can go swing.

 

 

has she a sols onboard that might help her?

 

 

dx

[citizenB]

Was there a will for the Aunt's estate ?

[Rich44]

Hi

There's no will for either Estate unfortunately, the aunts Estate was a couple of hundred pounds more than the funeral cost so tiny really and she only had small debts fortunately.

 

The problem is there was nearly £4,000 in her account as the insurance payout for the aunt so that was the aunts Estate, while mother in law was in hospital BEFORE she died we made sure the funeral directors were paid from that knowing the problems that were about to occur.

 

It looks like Nationwide have cancelled that debit card payment and are using that money to clear the debt to THEM!

 

not one of her creditors has responded yet to the CCA requests. All we've had from Nationwide is a letter saying this was the balance on death and we're keeping the lot.

 

There's no will. There's no property etc involved just 2 life insurance policies for about £8,000 before paying for the funeral and there's over £6,000 in debt in total

[Rich44]

Really? Just say no money go away?

 

Capital one have already sent income/outgoings forms

 

So really just say there's no money get lost? Is that legal, are they going to then demand proof?

 

No solicitor, LV insurance policy have a legal helpline as part of the service but can't afford a solicitor (I've just been sacked because I'm long term sick)

[citizenB]

I don't think they can use the money set aside for the funeral costs !

[citizenB]

I will alert others on the site team for you.

[Rich44]

Thanks,

I know they can't as funeral costs come first.

 

 

Going to check with funeral director on Monday whether they got the money or not,

 

 

even if they did there will be an excess of a few hundred pounds which again does not belong to the mother in law as it's her sisters Estate.

 

I was more worried that the bank has possibly cancelled a legitimate payment out of the account (to the funeral directors)

 

 

just so they could pay themselves their credit card money back especially when they haven't responded to the CCA request.

 

Is there any requirement to disclose the finances of the estate?

 

 

Capital One have sent a big form for value and expenditure (they're owed under £200)

 

 

or do we gather the money together,

 

 

pay the funeral off then add up all the debts and say offer everyone the same %?

[dx100uk]

funeral costs must be allowed through

 

 

they cant offset as that would favour them against other creditors

 

 

pers I'd not be responding to any forms letters phonecalls or WHY.

 

 

let the dust settle

then fire them off a nothing left letter

if they poke their heads up.

 

 

they'll sell the debts on.

 

 

dx

[Rich44]

That was my thoughts re the offsetting given you can't favour one creditor over another, will fire a letter off to them Monday and see what happens.

 

everyone's CCA 12+2 runs out Weds and had nothing from any of them so far

 

Thanks for replies

[caro]

From what you say it sounds like there will be nothing to offer.

[steampowered]

Is there any other money in the estate at all? If so, I would just get a solicitor to handle it. Their fees will come out of the estate and if the estate is insolvent it is no loss to you.

[sillygirl1]

Tell Capital One that she has died and left no estate so I&E forms are irrelevant as there will be no future income and expenditure to take into account.

 

Tell them if they do not stop requesting this information you will report them to the relevant authorities.

 

They are the least of your worries at the moment.

 

NatWest should know better too - I would go into a branch and demand to see a manager, deal with them in person, also, if possible ask if you can record the conversation as you have a lot of other things to deal with and forget details easily at this anxious time.

[Rich44]

Sent letter to Nationwide today saying the balance of that account is not part of the mil estate it is the remnant of her sister's estate (I said at the time to open a new account but no one listened to me!)

 

Also said even if that were not the case you can't arbitrarily remove money from the estate to pay the money owed to you. Said will make formal complaint if necessary and take to FOS

 

See what comes back there.

 

Cap 1 will write to at end of the week, cca will have expired by then.

 

If there is money available to pay creditors do you have to be completely honest with them or is it like poker and you can bluff them to accept less/nothing?

 

Thanks everyone, great to know we're not alone

[slick132]

If there is money available to pay creditors do you have to be completely honest with them or is it like poker and you can bluff them to accept less/nothing?

 

No, it's not like poker. You need to be completely honest and accurate.

 

Even though no Executor was appointed by the wills of either of the deceased, the person(s) dealing with the affairs of the deceased must act honestly and keep proper records.

 

Can you confirm, has the aunt's funeral been paid for or is this why the £4K is needed. You may HAVE to use a solicitor to get this aspect sorted if the bank insists on trying to use the aunt's funds to clear your MiL's debt.

 

I may be wrong here but why are you issuing CCA's in respect of your MiL's debts. Surely if the debts exist, they'd be settled from your MiL's Estate and, if there's insufficient funds to clear the debts, they must be written off by the lenders.

 

[Rich44]

It looks like funeral payment did go out ok don't know why nationwide included that on balance in their letter as debit would have gone out before mil died but they did.

 

Have written to them enclosing a copy of the life insurance letter regarding the aunts payout so they can clearly see the difference between the debit card transaction and the insurance payout is due to her Estate not the mil's

 

I was advised elsewhere to cca to make sure debts valid given there will not be enough to pay everyone everything.

 

Solicitor not really an option as funds not available, I've just been made redundant on ill health grounds, yes there's money in the estate to pay for one but it's not available "upfront" to pay a solicitor and we only have tax credits as income at the moment so rock/hard place

 

The aunts Estate still has debts to settle now the funeral has been paid there should be just shy of £700 leftover after paying funeral costs with another £120 to pay for interment plus electricity, catalogues etc but there should be enough if Nationwide release it.

 

Mill's Estate is several thousand short using rough figures off the top of my head

[Rich44]

Received the following today (date on letter 13th January, arrived today have kept envelope)

 

They claim:

 

When responding to a section 78 request, a lender does not have to provide a photocopy or other literal copy of the executed agreement nor provide a copy bearing or some other proof of the customers actual signature.

 

Any thoughts?

 

TIA

[dx100uk]

you need to PDF the attachment please

[Rich44]

Can't do that on a phone sorry, I'll try and get on a proper computer later on but don't have access right now

[dx100uk]

who did you CCA?

 

 

dx

[Rich44]

The company asking for the money which is still the original creditor, JD Williams who have then sent the above back this morning.

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

oh right rare for it to be with the OC still for a cca request to be made.

 

 

what does you credit file say about the debt?

 

 

why did you CCA them?

[Rich44]

It's not mine it's related to a family death as there's so many debts was part of checking things were valid as there's more debt than money. Know we can't inherit the debt personally.

 

Also to do with the fact they won't deal with it properly, won't stop writing to the old address, keep phoning the original phone number etc

[dx100uk]

have you sent them a copy of the death cert?

 

 

dx

[Rich44]

Yup, they aren't disputing that side of things but they say in that letter that we cannot alter the address. Just seemed very strange and what with claiming they don't need to provide a signed cca. They're being a bit of a mare