Joint Mortgage and Estate
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Thanks again for the advice.
I assumed someone had to deal with it ? Or at least notify organisations etc?
When you say meddled , we have just been trying to establish the facts, the assumption was someone has to deal with it.
I am getting very confused!0 -
"I assumed someone had to deal with it ? "
Nope. And anyway, even if they did, it doesn't have to be your wife.
"When you say meddled"
YM didn't, he said "intermeddled", which has a technical meaning (although that meaning is subject to some debate and is the topic of a lot of case law). Loosely, and this is absolutely not legal advice, once you start doing the things that executors/administrators do, you can be held to have the responsibilities of executors/administrators. Contrary to some of the more excitable posters, this does not extend to telling the milkman or even telling banks or using "Tell Me Once" or registering the death, but once you start handling money yourself (ie, using assets of the estate to settle debts, even small ones) then you are in a potentially precarious position.
The usual advice is "insolvent estates, or complex estates where you do not have a substantial interest, walk away". This sounds like both.0 -
Would seeing a solicitor to get legal advice on the situation without giving instruction be construed as intermeddling ?
And would a solicitor be OK telling us to walk away ?0 -
Would seeing a solicitor to get legal advice on the situation without giving instruction be construed as intermeddling ?
And would a solicitor be OK telling us to walk away ?
No and yes, respectively. You can talk to a solicitor about anything at any time, and with some incredibly narrow exceptions which don't remotely apply here, it is no-one else's business to the point of being legally privileged.
Although remember, the solicitor has a commercial interest in your becoming an administrator and employing them to do the work.0 -
We have discovered there is a will, it's held at a solicitor, and they are currently the executor.
If that's the case, is it still advisable to become the executor? The solicitor are happy to get it changed.
This is a warning to stay clear!
Solicitors rarely let family take over as executors without a bit of a protest - if they are happy to hand it over, they know they are going to lose money on it.0 -
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On what authority has the ex partner moved in? He has zero right to do so. The problem is that if you try and have him removed that might deemed top be intermeddling. Likewise the property needs insuring but the same caveat applies. Walking away sounds evermore the best thing.Collected together some paper work , although still fuzzy on the process.
She had an ex common law partner, and a boyfriend (they didn't live together although did plan to, and has since moved in to her property).
I am assuming neither are classed as a spouse for these purposes?
We have discovered there is a will, it's held at a solicitor, and they are currently the executor. We have no idea who the beneficiaries are, although it is from 20 years ago and hasn't been updated.
Death in Benefit - apparently will go to "next of kin". I am assuming that will be her children, and will NOT be part of her estate?
Life insurance - they asked if there was a will, or a surviving spouse. As there is a will, I assume that WILL go to her estate?
There is the CCJ, the mortgage, around 40k equity apparently, and the CCJ is about 15k. I assume that will somehow come from her part of the equity?
There is at least one other 5k debt.
It seems her estate may be insolvent, if the death in service and life insurance doesn't go into her estate?
If that's the case, is it still advisable to become the executor? The solicitor are happy to get it changed. Either way, who pays for the solicitor costs, assuming it's insolvent?
Sorry for all the questions, but it seems quite complicated although we have more facts to gather.0 -
"Likewise the property needs insuring but the same caveat applies"
Worse, not only is there the potential issue of intermeddling, more fundamentally there is the issue of whether you have an insurable interest. Most insurance companies will only permit you to insure something if you (either personally or in some legally substantive role) stand to lose if whatever it is you are insuring against happen. You can't just insure random houses and then claim a payout if one of them burns down, and if you are not the executor then the deceased's house is just another random house in which you have no insurable interest. The only entity that can insure a house prior to its disposal by an estate is the estate itself, acting via the executors, because until the estate is wound up the estate is the beneficial owner. That's why it invites accusations of intermeddling, because insuring the assets of the estate is definitely the responsibility of executors, but ironically until you actually _are_ an executor or at least have started the ball rolling towards becoming one, the insurance is probably invalid anyway.0 -
The way I read it, there is an EX partner, and a boyfriend at the time of death, and it is the boyfriend not the ex who has moved in - maybe the OP could confirm this.Yorkshireman99 wrote: »On what authority has the ex partner moved in? He has zero right to do so. The problem is that if you try and have him removed that might deemed top be intermeddling. Likewise the property needs insuring but the same caveat applies. Walking away sounds evermore the best thing.
If the boyfriend has moved in, he may or may not have the right to do so, depending on whether or not mum was the sole owner of the house, or whether the boyfriend owns part of it!Signature removed for peace of mind0 -
Sorry I've re-read the first post on the thread, where mum is living in rented accommodation, and a recent ex-partner is living in a house with a mortgage. So this boyfriend has appeared at a later stage, and it's not clear to me who is living where any more!The way I read it, there is an EX partner, and a boyfriend at the time of death, and it is the boyfriend not the ex who has moved in - maybe the OP could confirm this.
If the boyfriend has moved in, he may or may not have the right to do so, depending on whether or not mum was the sole owner of the house, or whether the boyfriend owns part of it!Signature removed for peace of mind0
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