My friends partner has suddenly died, what is her predicament?

Clive_Woody

cepheus wrote: »

I don't think she wants to arrange the funeral, and certainly can't afford it, but she will have the responsibility.

Short term finance is the immediate problem.

If they have a joint bank account then she should be able to get the account number from his cheque book/bank card/statements - and then contact the bank as the other named person on the account and request a debit/cash card is issued in her name.

SandC

She also needs to contact the mortgage provider. If they were joint owners of the house all well and good but if they didn't have life insurance then she will be responsible for the mortgage - as you have described she does not work so this is another serious area to get looked into as soon as she possibly can.

RAS

Any joint account including the mortgage and house should pass to her immediately, as long as it is not tenants in common.

She needs to check any death in service and pension grants.

She needs to check whether there was any life insurance and whether she benefits.

As a dependant she can make a claim against any other assets but may need to talk to the family about this.

C_Mababejive

RAS wrote: »

Any joint account including the mortgage and house should pass to her immediately, as long as it is not tenants in common.
.

She can only hope to retain clear ownership of the house if

a)she is married to the deceased

and/or

b) She is listed as a joint proprietor/tenant in common.

c) It is stipulated in a will

RAS

C_Mababejive wrote: »

She can only hope to retain clear ownership of the house if

a)she is married to the deceased

and/or

b) She is listed as a joint proprietor/tenant in common.

c) It is stipulated in a will

cepheus wrote: »

She has lived with him for about 10 years and known him for 30 years as a partner, and shared a mortgage on the house.

She will not be on the mortgage unless she is on the deeds. Lender just do not allow it.

The question is joint tenancy or tenants in common.

cepheus

I have just spoken to her and she is reasonably confident that she has 'joint tenant' status not 'tenants in common'. They certainly thought about this prior to arranging the joint mortgage.

It also seems likely she is named as the sole benefactor on the pension. Perhaps it will pay out a lump sum to help with the funeral?

Hopefully if this is the case, the only part of the 'estate' which she doesn't get is his (possibly overdrawn) bank account and old car, and perhaps some of the joint account.

Her main problem at the moment is getting on income support fast enough, since that pays for funerals (disability allowance doesn't) is it backdated?

I wonder if it worth stopping all the direct debits to his potentially overdrawn account?

susieb1967

Just to add my two pennies worth- I think you will find that the funeral director will wait for his money, the one i used waited for over a year ( I just kept him as informed as I could) as there was a hold up with the will. My impression is they are used to this type of thing and this info may reassure your friend a bit.

rosyw

Regarding the direct debits, if the bank account is in his sole name and the bank have been informed of the death, the account will be frozen and no payments in or out can be made. Another point to remember is that if he had any debts, they become debts of his estate, if there is not enough money to pay them then the creditors just don't get paid, simple as that, they are NOT your friends responsibility, and don't let anyone try to scare her into parting with her own limited funds! Regarding paying for the funeral your friend may be able to get a grant http://www.help.entitledto.co.uk/viewhelp.aspx?sid=4&helpfile=funeralgrantaward, worth checking out.

cepheus

Just an update on this:

My friend enquired to the jobseekers centre about income support but they never replied. Neither did the CAB get back to her.

She is not too worried, since she is reasonably confident she is due something by being named as a benefactor on the pension. Yes she should try again for Income support, but she is not the sort to bother until the money runs out.

The Bank still keeps pestering her for the debts on the deceased 'partners' individual account, because she had a seperate joint account. She can't find anyone willing to tell her the name of the executor of the estate or even if one has been appointed. Probably because they don't want the bank to chase them for the debts.

The house situation, who knows.

People have been very good with her, a thousand pound round up from work for the funeral, and £300 from a neighbour, which she want's to pay back. (incidentally, she was given a 6-7 year old low mileage Golf car a year ago by a friend!)

Her life revolves around her dogs, one of which needs care. She is not very interested in finance I'm afraid.

gratefulforhelp_2

Funeral directors will wait for the money, as funeral expenses are one of the first things to come from the estate. x