How to deal with unhelpful card company

martinmcg_2

I don't know if this is the right forum for this question....
my mother in law how has lived with myself and my wife for the past 5 years has recently had to move into a residential care home due to the oncoming of dementia which meant she could not be cared for at home.
We have since found out that she has a £10000 credit card bill which the card company has been trying to chase her for payments.
On numerous times both myself and my wife have tried to explain to the credit card company she has gone into a home so is unable to speak to them directly due to suffering dementia...she would not understand what they are talking about - every time we get told that because we do not have power of attorney and we are not the card holders we cannot speak to them.
We have now sent 3 letters explaining the situation but today have recieved a latter from Power2contact which i believe to be the start of proceedings to try and reclaim the money. She has no assets and most of her pension goes to pay for the care home fees.
Is there anything we can do to ease this situation ?

DestroyingAngel_2

You should be able to get Power of Attorney due to your mum-in-law not being compos mentis, meaning you're acting on her behalf. Or, get a solicitor and make him/her the one with POA, so he/she can handle your MIL's financial affairs directly. Legally, your MIL is liable for the debt; however, her personal circumstances prevent her from carrying out her obligation. Have you obtained a letter from the care home's doctors confirming your MIL's dementia and incapacity to handle her own affairs?

One thing to remember is this: although the debt is your MIL's, upon her passing, any debts get passed to whoever inherits her estate. So, if you or your wife become the beneficiaries, then you would also inherit that £10k debt.

jd87

The card company is right in a way, you need to get a solicitor involved and have them take power of attorney to sort this out. I'm sorry for your mother in law's condition.

System

DestroyingAngel wrote: »

One thing to remember is this: although the debt is your MIL's, upon her passing, any debts get passed to whoever inherits her estate. So, if you or your wife become the beneficiaries, then you would also inherit that £10k debt.

Surely debts will be paid out of the estate if possible. They can not be passed to beneficiaries. If there is insufficient in the estate then the debt will die.

inmypocketnottheirs

!!!!!! wrote: »

Surely debts will be paid out of the estate if possible. They can not be passed to beneficiaries. If there is insufficient in the estate then the debt will die.

Correct. If there is any estate that can settle the debt, then it will need to be repaid. If not the debt expires and is not inherited by anyone.

NickX

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Correct. If there is any estate that can settle the debt, then it will need to be repaid. If not the debt expires and is not inherited by anyone.

I agree that this is the case.

Family and Beneficiaries do NOT inherit unsecured debts, however the creditor can make a claim on the estate of the deceased if there are sufficient funds.

martinmcg_2

I agree that the card company is right and we have already tried to arrange to pay for half of the amount per month she owes but they wont listen to us as we do not have power of attorney. I was under the impression that as my mother in law is already too far gone to really know what she is doing she is unable to arrange POA herself so we cannot go down that route.

jd87

martinmcg wrote: »

I was under the impression that as my mother in law is already too far gone to really know what she is doing she is unable to arrange POA herself so we cannot go down that route.

No, surely this is the whole point of power of attorney, she doesn't know what she is doing, as long as doctors agree with that, then poa can be arranged.