Loan not being paid and guarantor deceased

hwalkerh

Hi

I will try and provide as much detail as possible but it is a friends issue and they are being scarce with details.

There Mum has just died and there are 5 brothers and sisters all entitled to a share of the estate. However, one brother got his Mum to act as guarantor on a loan and secured it against hre house. The brother has never paid anything and now the debt has gone from £25k to £40k with interest. They have been to a solicitor today who has said that the estate will only be liable for 50% of the debt. I wouldn't have thought this would be true as guarantor surely is liable for everything.

Any help would be great unfortunately i haven't seen any paperwork etc. I think it is with a company called Norton??

jonesMUFCforever

The guarantor would be responsible for the debt if she was alive - you need proper legal advice to see what happens now she has died.
I don't think the debt will go away so negotiation with Norton may be the way forward.

hwalkerh

Thats what i was thinking. I had wondered if they could negotiate on the debt. Especially as i think there is a question over if she was in an able state of mind to be able to make that decision and also not under pressure from her son.

i think that this might be a card that needs to be played in regards to credit cards and loans taken in her name over the internet. She never used a computer and didn't have an internet and didn't leave the house to use the credit card.

unfortunately i think that the family are still trying to protect there brother

ILW

If fraud is suspected, the police need to be called in. Either that or just pay up.

jonesMUFCforever

hwalkerh wrote: »

Thats what i was thinking. I had wondered if they could negotiate on the debt. Especially as i think there is a question over if she was in an able state of mind to be able to make that decision and also not under pressure from her son.

i think that this might be a card that needs to be played in regards to credit cards and loans taken in her name over the internet. She never used a computer and didn't have an internet and didn't leave the house to use the credit card.

unfortunately i think that the family are still trying to protect there brother

Going back years to when I used to take bank security for loans - you had to get the guarantor to take independent legal advice (indeed the guarantee form had to be signed at the solicitor's office) before the guarantee was signed (I can't remember the case law about this) to make the security airtight.
If this did not happen this will strengthen your case enormously.

ILW

Surely the brother is still liable for the debt. If he is a beneficiary of the estate he could pay it off.

hwalkerh

I had wondered if the liability will revert to the brother or if it will go to the estate. I think that there won't be much left after all the loans and credit cards he ran up in her name are paid off and then the final amount split between 5.

Thanks for all the help