Husbands debt

Legacy_user

What would happen to the debt my husband had taken out if he died tomorrow? None if it is in my name and what debt my husband has is offset against his tax at the end of the financial year but i am just wondering now hes working away again, what would happen to the debt if something tragic happened and i was left a widow (pessimstic i know ). None of the debt is secured against the house.

silvercar

His estate would consist of all his assets and all his debts. His asstes would be sold off to pay for his debts. If he had no assets, or they were insufficient to clear his debts, the debts would die with him.

I don't know what would happen if he had deliberaltely passed assets to you before his death to escape the debts.

CLAPTON

your husbands debts will be paid out of his estate. his estate will normally include his share of the house if applicable. if he has significant debts then ensure he has adequate life insurance so all debts can be paid off in the event of his death. simple life insurance is quite cheap assuming your husband is in normal health.

i didnot understand your comment about offsetting debt against tax at the year end

System

I dont know how it works myself, i know he gets tax relief on buying the car he needs for work. Fortunately for me, i just cook and clean house.:o

aimme13

i know my debts are paid through payplan and i pay £5 a month insurance, i was told that this ensures that if i die all my debts are paid off. I remember asking what would happen otherwise and they said my debt would be passed to my next of kin...........i dont own a house so they wouldnt be able to use that...........but i was told that your debts dont die with you but get passed on to your next of kin.........only what ive been told and was lead to believe, sure someone else can be more specific

magicmaria

My husband died 3 years ago - only assest we had was the house which automatically passed to me - it was mortgaged (no life Cover on the mortgage) he had a lot of CC debts and some of the companies tried to get me to pay, persistance and a lot of letters later all his debts were wrote off - you are not liable if they are in his name (he had a little life cover which paid out a lump sum) they can not take this from you.

CLAPTON

it make sense to have life insurance but debts are NOT passed to the next of kin. However, the next of kin may indirectly suffer. The debts are paid out of the dead person's estate. so in principle any assetts would have to be sold to realise sufficient to pay the debts. for most people the house is the key assett and so there is a possibility of having to sell the house. if there are no assetts then the debts die.

aimme13

so im wasting my £5 a month to payplan????..........but then i gues if anything was to happen to me i wouldnt want my parents having issues with the credit card companies (they would prob pay them)

CLAPTON

aimme13

apologises to OP for using their thread.

without knowing your circumstances i cant really say if life insurance is appropriate for you, but if you have dependents then it is highly desirable.

if however you have no assetts and no dependents then i would say it is really not much use but any benefits would go to your next of kin...presumably your parents...so you may think it worthwhile.

Broken_hearted

Just wanted to point out that not everyone canget life insurance. My OH can't .