my deceased father's mortgage

pict_saver

my question on what to do about my deceased father's mortgage. Me an my 2 sisters are paying my fathers mortgage (in his sole name)and me and my sisters are to inherit in the will. Mother not on the mortgage, and needs to live there.
Do i tell the Halifax that he's passed away, just show them the death cert. and change it into are names?, need lawyers?.
We fixed it for 5 years to jmay 2014 last year! Still keep paying until end of fix? then maybe go onto svr? or do get the name changed at the end of the fix?
thanks in advance

powerwin

This is my unprofessional opinion:

- The Halifax should be notified that the mortgage owner has died, for their information.

- This situation would then be dealt with according to the procedures in place for the execution of wills under UK inheritance law. There's a basic intro at:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029468

Rgds

Kavanne

Did he have any life insurance that will pay out and cover the mortgage for you?

getmore4less

Who is executor of the estate?
You need to talk to them.

Does it say in the will?
If not then there are rules on who can do this.

You will almost certainly need legal help with the house.
The other problem will be future tax issues if you(3) own the house and don't live there.

Many companies have special dediated teams to deal with bereavement situations here is the Halifax web page with the telephone number.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/HelpCentre/bereavement.asp

http://www.halifax.co.uk/HelpCentre/pdf/HelpandUnderstanding.pdf

Looks like a fairly usefull sumary of the probate process as well.

Sorry to say that you may have a lot of reading to do if you want to handle this without paid help.

pict_saver

Kavanne wrote: »

Did he have any life insurance that will pay out and cover the mortgage for you?

Hi Kavanne, no he didn't , so just want to keep the house the now as my mother wants to live there.

thanks

pict_saver

getmore4less wrote: »

Who is executor of the estate?
You need to talk to them.

Does it say in the will?


Sorry to say that you may have a lot of reading to do if you want to handle this without paid help.

I'm the name executor of the estate,i am entitled to a % with sisters % each i read all the information that people have supplied but still would like to know how it works if i was just to carry on paying until the fix is finished. would that be a problem?

getmore4less

I very much doubt it works like that since you will need to get the deeds changed to reflect the new ownership and this will require the mortgage changing.

Most likely the mortgage will need to be redeamed and new borrowing taken out based on lending critera of those that want to take out the mortgage on the property. this wll be all 3 of you if ou want to kep your shares.

Halifax may wave any ERC charges or allow you to have a deal on the old terms to avoid

You need to talk to the Halifax soon.

Have you started to look at what you need to do for probate yet?

Foggster

Surely the mortgage "died" with your father? You could be accused of deception or fraud or both if you do not notify the mortgage company of what has happened. In theory, should you stop paying the mortgage who how could the mortgage company recover its costs from a deceased person????

Kavanne

Foggster wrote: »

Surely the mortgage "died" with your father? You could be accused of deception or fraud or both if you do not notify the mortgage company of what has happened. In theory, should you stop paying the mortgage who how could the mortgage company recover its costs from a deceased person????

They won't just write off the mortgage, they will go after what's in the estate to repay it. If that means forcing them to sell the house, then that is what the mortgage company will do.

That's why I have life insurance

VIGILANT22

The buildings insurance also has to be changed, can't have it in the name of a deceased person...........

lola34

Are you sure theres no life insurance but under a different 'identity' we have always used a financial advisor so have always had a policy to cover the mortgage incase of deaths - I would double check through the paperwork its only a small amount each month so you might have missed it.