Help! Father Died And left Unknown Huge Debt

fiddiwebb

Been awake all night thinking about this and wondered if someone can give advice.
My 76 year old dad died from brain cancer on Monday and the (small) family have just found out that he left a huge debt of nearly 50k on credit cards and bank account, most of the debt seems to be on credit cards. He really did not share any info about his finances or debts, all the credit cards and bank account where in his name.
He shared a rented home with his wife, my step mum, as you can imagine with his death and then finding out that he left a huge debt she is totally bewildered and terrified that the creditors will try to remove everything in the house to pay my fathers debt.
The only assets my father personlly owned was a car he bought 2 years ago for a £1000 and some paintings of little value and his clothes, he used to deal in art after retiring from his job but mainly as a hobby. He certainly did not leave anything that he personlly owed which would cover this amount of debt.
Am I right in thinking that my step mum would not be liable for my dads debt because the credit cards and bank account were in his name only ? and could the creditors remove everything in their rented home ie. sofa,dining table , some pictures gifted to my stepmum from my dad and her trinkets.
She is worried sick that she wont have anything left, I have already contacted the credit card companies and bank and will be sending his death cert to them and have a meeting next week with the bank.
Sorry for the spelling mistakes but I am so tired and worried about this
Thankyou for any help or advice.

Emmzi

fiddiweb,

my condoences on your bereavement.

If the debts are only in your father's name i.e. step mum has not signed any application forms, all the statements are in his name only, etc, then they fall to his estate, not her. So if there is nothing in the estate, they will have to be written off by the lenders.

They could in theory take some of his assets to pay for them, but small items of relastively inexpensvie jewellry, second hand furniture, etc, is generally not worth the cost of going through the legal procedures, paying someone to collect it, paying commission to get it sold.

What they may wantr to check is if he made any large gifts in the last few years, as in theory they have a claim against these. But unless any of you were given, say, a small speedboat, you should be just fine.

I would get all the money paperwork together, and ask for an advisor at the citizen's advice or a solicitor to help you go through it, just to put your mind at rest. But I really don't think you have much to worry about.

Broken_hearted

Hugs as far as I'm aware as he had no money or assets left in his estate they can't come after her.

mossstar

Yes, that's my understanding too.

{hugs} I'm so sorry that you and she are going through this, look after yourselves won't you? Bereavement is the most terrible time anyway, and to have this extra fear as well must be awful for you both. Try to focus now on yourselves and your dad and put the money thing to the back of your minds - you're probably finding that this shock is intruding on your feelings about losing your dad and in reality it's such a minor part of the whole experience.

Wishing you both well,

Steph

freebird65

My condolences on your bereavement and I wish you all the best at this time.

When my stepdad died, he also owed money and my Mum was scared she'd lose her house (it was all in her name - he only owned a few bits of furniture and an old car). The card companies asked her to send a copy of the death certificate and that was the end of it. They cannot come after your stepmum for debts in your dad's name if his estate doesn't cover them - which it clearly won't.

Please don't worry about this on top of everything else!

All the best x

fiddiwebb

Many thanks for all your sympathies, all the debts were in my dads name only but what has worried my stepmum is how do the creditors distingish what personlly belonged to my dad from all the other things in the house like furniture, sofa, tv and my stepmums trinkets she keeps in a cabinet etc. that is used every day.

Bossyboots

My condolences too.

I would be surprised if the creditors come after anything in the house. Emmzi's post is spot on. It is going to cost them more to collect what might be realisable than they will get back for it. Not very good publicity either to take a widow's furniture.

I really don't think she has to worry. The only word of warning I will give is that some people on here have found that the creditors have demanded the next of kin pay the debts. Stand your ground. No-one else has any obligation or liability in relation to these debts but they may just try it on and see if they get anywhere.

mossstar

Gosh, well if they do make sure to let the folks on this board know - there'll be uproar!!

x

Emmzi

fiddiwebb wrote:

Many thanks for all your sympathies, all the debts were in my dads name only but what has worried my stepmum is how do the creditors distingish what personlly belonged to my dad from all the other things in the house like furniture, sofa, tv and my stepmums trinkets she keeps in a cabinet etc. that is used every day.

All they'll beinterested in,typically,is
- shares and investments
- thousand pound plus jewellry
- cars over a thousand pounds value (no resale in bangers)

If nothing is worth more than £1,000 or so, don't worry. They don't have time to care about it.

fiddiwebb

I'm just trying to reassure my stepmum that they wont take everything in the home to pay off the debt, she thinks that 50k is a hell of a lot of money and so do I and am just really worried that they the creditors will take the things that herself and my dad shared in their home.
She feels guilty about the debt and just wished that she could have done more to help him but due to his illness they almost lived separate lifes in the house, he would sit in the tv room watching dvds which he spent a lot of money on and she spent her time in her room doing other things.
The only real time they got together was at breakfast and mealtimes were they would talk to each other for a while but then both go off to do there seperate things.
I just wished I could have helped more and spent more time with my dad to help him but you only really seem to realise that after something terrible happens. I have my own family and just feel so guily about not being there.

mossstar

Fiddiweb, what you're feeling is TOTALLY normal and natural after bereavement - you only lost him a few days ago hon, you're grieving and in pain and shock, and so is your poor stepmother.

When my mum died I struggled with feelings of guilt and anguish over not seeing her a huge amount over the last year (i had just left uni and was busy setting up my job/life) until eventually I had a dream where she just held me (it was so real, I could smell her perfume so strongly) and told me that what I was feeling, all the pain and sorrow and love for her and guilt - that if any of it were real she'd have to be feeling it too, and that all she felt was love and that she wanted me to be happy and to heal and live, really LIVE.

So what I would say to you is - those feelings that you have, don't you think that your Dad would understand? Try to access the feelings of love and pain, and let the guilt go. Losing mum made me learn quite young that guilt is a big old waste of time (unless you've comitted a crime or something, you know what I mean!) and that the only thing to take from death is a DETERMINATION to live the rest of your life with the knowledge of just how precious each and every day is. And you cuddle your children just that little bit more!

I wish you the best, i really do.

Steph x