Help please!

Amethyst

Son and daughter in law are in a mess!

They have approximately £30K debts and have asked all lenders to take a full & final settlement.

They have approx £13K from the sale of their house (they are now guardians to her 3 sisters & a brother) her mum's house has been sold so will be homeless before Xmas, DIL is pregnant and extremely worried.

Yes they know the debt is their fault, but due to circumstances beyond their control - her mum died in May - she can't work or they lose benefits so they have asked their solicitor to help.

She has been marvelous however Alliance & Leicester will not agree to a settlement, they want a payment to bring them up to date and then resume normal payments. Their attitude is it's not their problem and they will have money when don't have to pay council tax etc. however they still have to feed & clothe 6.

Can anyone please give me some advice where to go.

I thought this would all be sorted out but it's just getting worse by the day.

Thanks
Amethyst

Magentasue

First thought is to get CAB, CCCS or National Debtline involved. The links are in the blue banner at the top of this page. Or local CAB office - some have specialist debt counsellors.

Meantime, they need to draw up a budget so they can see what they can and cannot afford. Priority is housing - where will they live?

Bossyboots

I am a bit concerned about the mum's house being sold. This is surely needed to home the younger children and as such should have been retained. Can you post any more details about the circumstances and particularly the ages of those children. I know this is not related to the debt problem but I think there is a possibility that the house does not need to be sold, thus helping with their housing situation.

When you refer to their house, do you mean a house they have or the mum's home?

southernscouser

Sorry am also confused!

You say they have £13,000 from the sale of THEIR house and the mum's house has been sold! What has happened to the money from that sale? Why was it necessary to sell the house? I know these are personal questions but unfortunately we can't really advise until we know the details. (not being nosey, honest! )

Amethyst

Hi,

I didn't make much sense did I!

Son and DIL were buying their own house (2 bed starter) but had to sell as have taken on the 4 children (ages 6,9,11,13) and it wasn't big enough.

They wanted to use the money from the sale to clear some/all of the debts.

Her mum's house has a mortgage on it and the executor & solicitor have put it up for sale. As son only earns £12,600 he can't get mortgage to buy the house (they want £100K +) & we aren't in a position to help that much.

They were hoping that the executor would let them take on the mortgage (approx £50K) but have been told that as the children's money has to be put in trust they have to buy the whole house.

They have done a proper budget and CCCS have been involved earlier in the year but they only suggested going bankrupt.

As far as where they will live is concerned they are all moving in with us as our house is large enough (but only just)

Any help is much appreciated as I can't think of anything else they can do.

Thanks
Amethyst

Magentasue

Back to CCCS I would suggest. After all, their circumstances have changed considerably.

I assume they have sold their house - too late to back out? A two bedroom house might be too small but a small house is better than no house.

What about council/housing association housing?

ceegee

They must get in touch with the CAB or a housing charity or their council. I cannot see how under any circumstances children of this age would be allowed to become homeless. This is a dreadful situation and I sincerely hope it can be resolved without delay. All the best to all of you.

southernscouser

I don't claim to be an expert so only guessing here but when the mum died to she not have life insurance with the mortgage that paid it off automatically? What normally happens in these circumstances?

Also if you don't mind me asking who is the executor of the will? Not DIL?

Also a big :T to you for taking them all in. It can't be easy for you and will probably be a major shock to the system but I feel for those poor kids who lost their mum and also their home. Well done you. :T :T :T

Thefunkygibbons

Try the local MP, a letter and the thereat of publicity might make A&L back down

Amethyst

Hi all,

Firstly thank you for your advice it is very kind of you!.

Some good news DIL has seen an independent solicitor this morning and been advised they may have a case to keep the house. The solicitor is sending a letter to the executor & solicitor telling them to stop the house sale while it is being investigated. She has also been advised to see mortgage company to ask if they can just pay the mortgage not take it on in their name.

Unfortunately there was no insurance for the mortgage as her mum had terminal cancer. The executor wants to get everything over and done with so there is no way they will help.

Son & DIL have been informed by council that they will be making themselves intentionally homeless so won't be helped by them!

Their home sale (2 bed house) was completed on 1st November.

I just wish they had spoken to an independent solicitor months ago.

I will suggest talking to CCCS again, in the meantime there is a bit of hope!

Thanks again
Amethyst.

Bossyboots

I am glad there is some hope. The first step would be to protect the younger children and I would have thought the way to do this was to put the house into trust and your son and DIL live in it with them. It would be the children's house probably in terms of not being sold until the youngest leaves full time education. The sticky point is the mortgage as that should be paid off but the estate should not be handled in a manner that leaves the children homeless.

Your DIL is to be applauded for taking the children on. It is a sad irony though that if she had let social services handle matters, she would get a fostering allowance and priority housing.

I am not sure they can just pay a mortgage in the name of a deceased person as all accounts in that person's name should be frozen on death. There is also no-one to chase if the mortgage is defaulted. That said though, there should be a way around all of this and I hope DIL's new solicitor will be able to unravel it.
What the council appear to be missing here is that the youngsters are not intentionally homeless and they have an overriding duty to them.