What to do if debtor dies?

Pandora_Peroxide

My father-in-law died yesterday and I know he leaves some debts on credit cards. It has fallen to me as PC owner to produce and print a letter to his creditors. Is there a standard I can use? If not would something like this be OK?

Dear X

Please not that FIL holder of Acc No XXX is now deceased. Enc copy of death certificate. Any future correspondence to me at XXXX.

Your sincerely


XXX
next of kin

heppy23

Did he leave a will? Who is the executor of the will? I think that companies may only be oblidged to deal with the executor. Not sure of implications if he did not leave a will.

msmicawber

Dear Pandora,

I'm very sorry to hear about your father-in-law.

About all I can remember is that you need to enclose either the original death certificate or, preferably, get some copies of it and have them signed at a solicitor's office as true copies of the original. Ask for the companies to return the copies once they've noted them so that you can re-use them. It costs a small fee to have the copies notarised.

CLAPTON

presumably the death certificate is a 'proper' copy obtained for births,death and marriages.

i would ask for its return.
editted to say : you may wish to add his address

they will deal with you no trouble there.

PS.
and just for the record, there is a myth about the original certificate...there is no such thing ... the original is an entry in the register and all others are copies.

immoral_angeluk

Unless you are the executor of the will I wouldn't do anything and most places won't deal with you. Some companies will write the debt off, and some will expect the debt to be paid out of his estate. If there isn't enough estate to cover the debts then they may ask for a token payment of x amount to close the account, or they may write off the debt altogether. When my mum died I called the companies and although they made notes on their system that I'd called, the official stuff had to be done by the executor of her will (my brother), including the letter writing, death certificate sending etc. They all accepted photocopies of the death certificate btw except the life insurance companies who needed to see the real copy but sent it back quickly free of charge.
I found all her creditors to be very sympathetic and understanding when I spoke to them on the phone, but from what my brother told me a few were funny about closing the accounts as there wasn't any estate to be able to pay off her debts, and I know he had to pay £150 to capital one to close down her account of £1500+ after a long argument with them about it.

Sorry to hear about your FIL.... all the best.

MrsTinks

This article should help explain it

I guess it's not as simple as it might appear... I would strongly recommend thinking about getting re-payment protection in event of death if you have substancial debts...