Credit Card debt after death

tryingtocutback

Sorry for the "miserable" topic but I wanted to ask a question regarding my late mothers credit card debt.

My mother died in June leaving around £6000 worth of debt on a credit card. Since then my brother has been making payments but we were wondering whether we were responsible for it really or could it be written off?

The account is in the name of my late mother and she left no estate (no home, savings etc).

opinions4u

Any assets in the estate (e.g. selling her belongings on eBay) should be used to pay any liabilities of the estate (e.g. credit cards, loans, outstadning gas bills etc).

If there's no money left after this, tell the credit card company (politely) that this is the situation and they should do one.

tryingtocutback

Well there wasnt even enough to pay for the funeral so we paid for it

Thanks for your help, we will call them

exel1966

tryingtocutback wrote: »

The account is in the name of my late mother and she left no estate (no home, savings etc).

Then why are you paying it ? Would you pay a friends/strangers debt ? There is absolutely no difference.

If there is no estate then the debt ceases to exist and has to be written off.

Robert_Sterling

opinions4u wrote: »

Any assets in the estate (e.g. selling her belongings on eBay) should be used to pay any liabilities of the estate (e.g. credit cards, loans, outstadning gas bills etc).

If there's no money left after this, tell the credit card company (politely) that this is the situation and they should do one.

I agree but I would omit the five words in blue.

fermi

As said, not your problem.

Your brother should stop making payments. It's not his debt, nor is he at all legally liable for it.

michaelvintner

Agree completely with what has been said. The debt is nothing to do with your brother. He should stop paying it and the credit card company should be told of your sad news.

Any claim they have is from your mothers estates. If there is anyway of getting anything out of it I am sure they will find a way. However if there is nothing then there is nothing for them to claim.

lisyloo

You are not responsible for your mothers debt.

However, you should be aware that credit card companies can be devious and write threatening letters. They are not beyond trying to take advantake.

It's quite simple.
No-one else is liable.
The estate is liable, but if there was nothing left, then they can't have it, simple as that.

chattychappy

Agreed, no further payments.Was there a will appointing an executor? If so, better that the executor contacts the bank. The bank will probably want to see a death certificate/certified copy of grant of probate before accepting what you say. Sadly people can be devious too and some think they can avoid a debt by pretending that they have died. Of course it's not down to you to prove anything to them - but this might be the swiftest way to get the account closed down.

EarthBoy

chattychappy wrote: »

Sadly people can be devious too and some think they can avoid a debt by pretending that they have died. ...

This sometimes happened when I worked at British Gas. We would ask for a copy of the death certificate, but strangely we never received one and a few weeks later the bill would "mysteriously" get paid.

davethorp

If I was your brother I'd be trying to get any payments already made since your mothers death back as well though this will depend on if there has been any contact making the CC company aware of her death or if your brother just got the statements, assumed they had to be paid and paid them himself without any contact.

As others have said, the debt should come from her estate if possible and if there isn't enough in the estate then too bad.

On a final note, my belated condolences for your loss and I hope you resolve this with the CC company one way or another