Father passed away, what is my mother entitled to? Advice needed please

DSmiffy

Hi there, my father has passed away this week and I am trying to help mum sort out all the paperwork and arrange the funeral etc.
I have been in touch with his life insurance policy provider and also his pension company. He had a very small private pension alongside his state pension. Wondered if anyone could help with some advice re the following:-

Does the private pension die with my father or will it carry on to my mother or is it different for each policy?

My mother claims a state pension only, and has no mortgage left to pay on her home. Is there anything else she should be entitled to such as help with council tax, heating, or water bills etc.

Can anyone tell me what she should be entitled to.

Never had to go through this before so any help and previous experience will be very much appreciated.

Can anyone also tell me who I should be contacting and informing of his death apart from life ins and pension etc?

Thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

The pension will depend on what type of pension it was,so you need to speak to the provider asp.
If your mum will now be living alone in her home she will qualify for a 25% council tax reduction,so you need to contact the local council,if her total income is low she may also qualify for additional council tax benefits,and pension tax credits.

Kimitatsu

Hiya

Can I suggest that you put in her details into www.entitledto.co.uk, this is the software used by the local council and it will tell you what she is entitled to claim. It will prompt you for figures for her pension, savings etc and shoud give you an idea what if anything she will get.

I agree with speaking to the pension provider, I know for many of todays pensions the widow only gets half of the pension, but I dont know how recent that is or if it has always been that way.

Your Mum depending on her age will definately be entitled to a 25% reduction in council tax and possibly a winter fuel payment, as well as grants for things such as home insulation etc.

I would sit down with your mum and go through it with her, if she is entitled to pension credits they will also send someone out to help her fill out all the claim forms and fast track it where possible.

DSmiffy

thanks for all this info, by the way my mum is 69.

Also my dad had a credit card, in his name only, on which is an outstandfing debt of £3,000. Will my mum have to pay this off now or does it die with my dad?

Kimitatsu

If your Mum is 69 then she will definitely be eligible for the winter fuel payments, as well as free bus passes for her local area.

She will also be elgible for grants to insulate her home, and dependant on her income may be responsible for warm front grants.

As someone who is in a "vulnerable" group, you should ensure that all of the utility companies are notified so that should there be any issues with the moving over of bills or arrears etc then they are not allowed to cut her off by their own code of conduct (you can find this on the Ofgem website).

The credit card debt (if your Dad did not have PPI on it) can be claimed against his estate, so would need to be passed onto the solicitor dealing with the will. It is not up to your Mum to pay it. If it cannot be claimed against his estate (which from what you have said is unlikely) then the debt dies with him.

Keep asking the questions, its always a difficult time and sometimes its easier to ask the questions than trawling through the web pages

Oldernotwiser

Kimitatsu wrote: »

The credit card debt (if your Dad did not have PPI on it) can be claimed against his estate, so would need to be passed onto the solicitor dealing with the will. It is not up to your Mum to pay it. If it cannot be claimed against his estate (which from what you have said is unlikely) then the debt dies with him.

Doesn't the OP's father's half of the house count as his estate? Surely if his mother's inherited this half, won't she have to pay it?

OP sorry to hear of your loss. Until you find out what provision there is for a spouse's pension as part of your father's pension (and also the life insurance money), it'll be difficult to find out what else your mum's eligible for. The 25% council tax relief is the exception to this as she'll get this regardless of income as long as she's the only adult living in the house.

Kimitatsu

ONW - as I understand it, because it is in HIS name then the CC company have to make a claim against his estate, not the wife. The solicitor sorts out the estate taking in the life insurance etc and then pays off any debts that are due and death duties then sharing out the remainder to the beneficiaries.

Just thinking that if his wife is only on a state pension she will struggle to pay a £3000 bill off and the solictior is better taking the strain of that one. As far as I understand it the solicitor is allowed to make payments to debtors before probate is allowed to ensure that the debts are satisfied. ( I will be corrected if I am wrong I know!!)

lighton

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Doesn't the OP's father's half of the house count as his estate? Surely if his mother's inherited this half, won't she have to pay it?

OP sorry to hear of your loss. Until you find out what provision there is for a spouse's pension as part of your father's pension (and also the life insurance money), it'll be difficult to find out what else your mum's eligible for. The 25% council tax relief is the exception to this as she'll get this regardless of income as long as she's the only adult living in the house.

I am sure the house just becomes your mums there is no half etc where that is concerned . But the credit card will have to be paid out of life insurance if any left after funeral expenses etc.
Im going by when my dad died although that was 22 years ago . Maybe it has changed . But i really dont think it is possible to expect your mum to remorgage a house just to pay a credit card . The house is hers now.

Dustykitten

So sorry to hear of your Dad's passing.

I dealt with all of the paperwork for Mum when Dad died and it can seem overwhelming. In terms of who to contact here are some suggestions:

Bank account - if it is join it needs to be changed to your Mum's name
ISA providers
Are the untility bills in his name?
Passport office
Library card
DVLA for his licence
Premium Bonds?
Insurance - car/travel

Most of these are not urgent and different companies require different things. Do you have a death certificate yet? It can be helpful to have more than one copy.

There is a thread on here - Stormybay's thread all about what to do when somebody dies. Most of the posters on their have suffered the loss of somebody close so can offer lots of practical advice.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=334334


Good luck Dusty x

DSmiffy

Thanks everyone for all your help, will be pressing all of your thanks buttons !

My dad had no savings, he just owned a house with my mum. Is this his estate? his life insurance is around £5500 to cover funeral expenses, it won't be a flash one, he wasn't like that. Does the credit card get paid out of what is left?

My dad just did a home will where you write it out and appoint your own executors, do I have to appoint a solicitor now, won't that be expensive?

Oldernotwiser

I think it depends if the house was owned as joint tenants or tenants in common. I believe the first is more usual for married couples. As you say, it's much more likely that the money for the credit card would come from the life insurance.

Edit; if it's tenants in common (the more normal one) then I believe that his half will pass to your mother without constituting his estate. I'd forgotten this when I made my original post. Sorry.