Surrendering property

RobertoMoir

Your posts are, no offence intended, very confusing, and I suspect this simply reflects that you're in a pressured situation at a very difficult time.

You need your own legal advice as executor of the estate - someone you can explain this whole situation to. In detail. If the person you refer to as "The solicitor" is the solicitor helping you as executor of the estate then you need to ask them if you do not understand the implications of something they have told you and keep on asking until you understand what you're being told. If they've already given you advice then I hope it was a bit more involved than "Just give the keys back and all will be fine".

Don't take any "advice" from your late parents' lender or anyone else connected with them; they are trying to solve their problems, not your problems. Deal with them in writing only, don't call them and if they call you then tell them you will only deal with them in writing. If they don't like this then tell them that you've checked your "give a damn-ometer" and it registers "zero" when asked how much you should care about their problems.

You need to maintain a separation of you, yourself as an individual person with your own financial affairs and interests and "the person who is the executor of the estate", who is concerned with the estate's own financial affairs, which are unconnected with yours. You personally should not be taking on any financial burdens of the estate any more than you could legitimately "help yourself" to assets of the estate without first settling its affairs. Sorry if it sounds like I'm over-stressing this point but its important for you to get this right for a number of reasons.

G_M

This makes little sense and I suspect you are out of your depth. You need legal advice. Either

1) probate has been granted, in which case ALL debts, including the mortgage, would have to be settled (paid off). The house, if it has not been sold to pay off those debts, then becomes yours as Beneficiary without any mortgage.

2) probate has not yet been granted and you are struggling as Executer. In this case, you should NOT be using your personal money for anything. Debts owed by the Estate should be paid by the Estate. Not by you. As others have said, you cannot remove (steal) anything from the property as it belongs to the Estate. If the debts of the Estate are greater than the assets, then as Executer you use the assets in the best way possible to pay off as much of the debts as possible - and that means not stealing the kitchen!

Kirstie70

Thanks for ur advice. There was no will left by my father so I went to our family solicitor and she went through the courts so I wAs able to deal with his estate as the mortgage and loan company were refusing to do talk to me. I was made aware that I needed the grant of probate for them to speak to me. I didn't quite understand why or what this meant but I phoned the solicitor one day after becoming very stressed out by it all and asked her if I wanted to walk away could I. Her advice was that yes I could hand the keys back to the mortgage company and they would deal with selling it and paying off the securities although she didn't really advice it as there was equity in the estate. I told her that it was very little equity and that I just couldn't handle the pressure. I would rather it be dealt with than wait about for what might not even be a couple of grand. She said that's fine and I wouldn't be held liable as the debt dies with the person and they would simply need to sell the house and see what they get. She said she would be able to write them a letter for me. I have already had to pay her quite a bit of money to go though the courts so I then phoned the mortgage company and told them I was thinking about handing the keys in and they could deal with the sale and settle the other debt. They said that was fine and I would just need to take the keys to a branch with my roll number. Does this all sound about right?

Kirstie70

If the person who has died didn't leave a will

If there is no will, a close relative of the deceased can apply to the probate registry to deal with the estate. In this case they apply for a 'grant of letters of administration'. If the grant is given, they are known as 'administrators' of the estate. Like the grant of probate, the grant of letters of administration is a legal document which confirms the administrator's authority to deal with the deceased person's assets.

Hi ive read a quote from the gov website, so the grant of probate if the person has not left a will is basically just the right to administer the estate. So basically im responsible for dealing with the estate - the estate only consists of his house. If you guys have any questions or dont understand anything let me knw i might be able to make sense of - maybe my explanation of the situation isnt the best. BTW im in Scotland.

Thank you.

Kirstie70

G_M wrote: »

This makes little sense and I suspect you are out of your depth. You need legal advice. Either

1) probate has been granted, in which case ALL debts, including the mortgage, would have to be settled (paid off). The house, if it has not been sold to pay off those debts, then becomes yours as Beneficiary without any mortgage.

2) probate has not yet been granted and you are struggling as Executer. In this case, you should NOT be using your personal money for anything. Debts owed by the Estate should be paid by the Estate. Not by you. As others have said, you cannot remove (steal) anything from the property as it belongs to the Estate. If the debts of the Estate are greater than the assets, then as Executer you use the assets in the best way possible to pay off as much of the debts as possible - and that means not stealing the kitchen!

Have a look at my previous post, the probate Has granted and i am legally rounding up the estate. The legal information as soon as put into google shows that it is possble to apply for probate to be able to be the administrator of the estate. Therefore i dont inherit any debt, im simply the admin of the estate. My understanding of the info from gov.uk is that IF i chose not to admin the estate then the assets would be repossessed to round up the estate. Which is exactly what im wanting to do...

GDB2222

it seems to me that you are over complicating this. Either the estate is worthless, or it is not. If it is worthless, you need to follow the procedure for "insolvent estate", which you can Google to find out more about. If it is not worthless, you just need a bit of a hand to sell the property.

Either way, if you can see a solicitor, the strain that you are evidently under will be much reduced.

I really cannot see any point in taking out a fitted kitchen or bathroom, as the stuff you can remove will have almost negligible value. Obviously, if there are built-in appliances, such as a fridge or washing machine, these will have some value if they have not been used. You really need legal advice, rather than trying to rely on amateurs on the Internet.

bris

You can't take anything from the estate until the creditor's are settled first, when there is no one left to pay the you can do what you want with the estate. As the executor you could be prosecuted for failing to safegaurd the estates assests. Being an executor has huge implications for you if you make a mess of it, you are taken on a liability that can mean if you don't do things properly then you can be held jointly liable for the estates debt.
Stripping out the properties assets would be noticed and you would be held liable for it.
You really need a solicitor to help you with this, you really have no idea what your doing or what your duties as an executor are, it is very complicated and there are also time limits that give any one a chance to make a claim on the estate before you give thing away from it. Rember you can become liable for any mistakes you make.

Type executors duties into google and have a good read, there is plenty info which will take you through the process and difficulties involved in being an executor.

RAS

Probate is very different in Scotland, so you need Scottish advice Kirsty. Please edit your title to reflect that this is a Scottish law query (hit advanced edit).

With respect to fees incurred whilst obtain letters of administration/probate and settling the estate, these should be paid by the estate, not by you.

paddy's_mum

Was the mortgage not insured?