Using the estate of a person (deceased) as collateral for a loan for beneficiaries

donaldfleming

My sister died recently, without leaving a will.

Her estate comprises principally a flat worth in the region of £150,000 (with no mortgage). The beneficiaries of this estate are her son and daughter.

Under Scots law, for an estate to be settled an executor has to be appointed and procedures followed. Also, before the estate is settled money has to be paid to the court and solicitors to cover certain legal outlays.

This presents a problem for my sister's son and daughter, in that they are on benefits, have no savings and have no access to credit.

Furthermore, solicitors that they have contacted say it is not the policy of theIr firm to pay outlays on behalf of clients and recover these when the estate is settled.

Therefore, they lack the funds to have the estate settled.

My question is this: would it be possible for a bank (subject to a solicitors' letter confirming the validity of my niece and nephew's claims on the estate) to accept the estate as collateral, so that credit could be extended to them to finance the settling of the estate?

Can anyone else suggest another solution?

alliballi

Hi not sure if this will help, when my dad died 5 years ago he left no will and as being his only child I had to go to the Sherriff Court in Glasgow to get a bond of caution I think it was called this cost about £150 and required no solicitor, you can use one if you want but I did it myself, they help you through it all in the court. This in turn allowed me to access his savings in his bank as it is a form of proof that I was his child and sole beneficiary, we didnt have a house to sell,but if you call your local sherriff court they will advise, also my dad had no executor either and with this form the court I done it myself, hope it helps and sorry for your families loss x

alliballi

www.scotcourts.gov.uk/library/civil/estates/docs/smallest.pdf


Just found this about the bond of caution might not help because house is over £30000 but have a read anyway and give them a call to see about help and proper advice.

ILW

Try different solicitors, I am sure there are some that will take their fee after the estate has been settled.

donaldfleming

Thanks for your reply.

Probably some solicitors would wait for their fee until the estate was settled. However, I expect that they would expect prompt payment for court fees and other outlays such bond of caution etc.

ILW

Get the phone book out, ring round and explain the situation and see what different firms of solicitors say. I think some with be OK. Had a similar situation with a friends uncle some years ago and they did not take any payment until the estate had been settled. They did charge about 3% though.