What to do when a partner/spouse dies.

rosyw

Hi John

I had thought that maybe it had something to do with the dreaded tax man, the children are now grown up, being 31 and 21 years old. OH & I both madfe our wills at the same time, knowing that if the worst whould happen to either of us, the other would ensure the children were OK. I just fveel sad that the "law" doesn't see that living with someone for 34 years is just as much of a commitment as marriage.

John_Pierpoint

I know of three cases were long term couples did their sums and promptly got married.
One was a big family household, where the house had been passed to the daughter (before the reservation of benefit legislation) only for the daughter to die of cancer a week or two after getting married.
Another was a simple case of a farm house (land rented out) where the owner was diagnosed with breast cancer (fortunately she seems to be A OK now).
In the third case there are complicated business considerations but it is pretty obvious that money paid a part in tying the knot.

It took me 10 weeks to get probate this year from the point where I had everything in apple pie order and ready to write a cheque for the tax, before "the system" delivered the grant of probate. Even then I had hassle maintaining that I had under valued the house of the deceased.

I think I have just paid for a few months of "Sir Fred's" pension :eek:.

rumncoke

Firstly, my condolences to all that have lost a loved one recently.
Just want to say how useful this thread has been. Hopefully neither myself, DH or our children will have need for this info for a long time. I am in the process of putting together a to do list if I go first. I deal with all finances, as well as running a small business from home. My DH would not have a clue re the business so thought I should sort out a list for him.

Having read through most of the thread there are several things I would have missed. eg no idea about local undertakers etc. We both made wills a few years ago after a neighbour died in a tragic accident aged just 34.

I think everyone should have something in place, especially now so many use online banking etc.

Haileelu

I'm so sad when I mother died when I was ninteen years old. The sad lasted for a long time, about half a year. I still remember her sometime. It's 8 years till she passed away. I miss her so much, can't help to crying.

maggie_12

Hi all

Wonder if someone could offer any expertise. I am due to marry my fiance next year but he has a large sum of debt behind him.

I found out a few months back that he was in debt of £20,000. I was so taken a back, he's too young to have such a large amount of debt and it was all through being stupid and buying things via store/credit card.

He is on a debt management programme and I give him credit as he does not have a single credit card or store card or finance agreement to his name any longer, he purely pays within his means now. But, it will take him the next 10 years to pay it off, what happens when we're married? Should the worst happen and he dies, will I be responsible for his debt in anyway? He was not registered at my home address at the time of accummulating the debt as we were not together then.

Any help would be appreciated.

maggie_12

Haileelu wrote: »

I'm so sad when I mother died when I was ninteen years old. The sad lasted for a long time, about half a year. I still remember her sometime. It's 8 years till she passed away. I miss her so much, can't help to crying.

Hi Haileelu, just a quick note to say I understand what you're going through. My mum died just in May there very suddenly. She took her own life. Money and debt was a major factor of that. I miss her so much. She was so central to my entire world and without her it's hard to feel like there's any point to anything.

I hope you've got some positive things to look forward to. x

rosyw

Hi maggie_12, the answer is that you would not be responsible for your fiances debts so long as they are in his name only. If the worst should happen the debt would belong to his estate, if he didn't have enough assets at this death to cover these, most creditors would write the debt off. The one thing to be careful of is that if you were to buy a property together, you need to be registered as "joint tennants" not as "tennants in common", that way his share of the property automatically would pass to you and would not form part of his estate, or yours if the worst should happen to you.

I wish you many happy and hopefuly debt free years together.

RedRobbo

Hello,

I am looking for advice for my grandmother regarding a company that would like to charge £2338 to set up and trust for her house and £50 fee for the Land registry, can anyone advice me on this please

Thanks in advance.

Charles

misfitz

Thanks to everyone with all their useful info. I have one question. When my father died last year, my brother and I are executors. Everything has been sorted except, I do not know if the estate is legally obliged to repay creditors of UN-secured debts and credit cards or should they have died with him.

rosyw

Yes, the estate should pay if there is enough money, check whether or not there was any insurance/ card protection to cover the card debts. If there isn't enough left in the estate to cover the debts you could ask the creditors to write the debts off, most credit card companies will do this. Sadly debts don't die with you, but remain debts of the estate, if there is a property creditors could force a sale to ensure they get paid.