Mother died with debt and no estate. Help needed

xoxo_2

heatherw_01 wrote: »

The bank does seem keen of giving me the money when I have paid off the funeral. I told them I want to leave it for the creditors but they said no one else will have access. I am guessing though they usually get a probate or something like that to gain access?

I hope they don't end up sending me a cheque or something lol

If you don't want to be given the money left over, is there a reason why you can't make the funeral + headstone come to the amount due from the insurance policies? A bigger flower display, slightly upgraded coffin etc, it's easy to build the funeral cost up. Then there's nothing left over to be returned to you from your Mums bank account, and it solves you the headache of trying to work out which creditor should get what because there will be nothing to give them.

heatherw_01

xoxo wrote: »

If you don't want to be given the money left over, is there a reason why you can't make the funeral + headstone come to the amount due from the insurance policies? A bigger flower display, slightly upgraded coffin etc, it's easy to build the funeral cost up. Then there's nothing left over to be returned to you from your Mums bank account, and it solves you the headache of trying to work out which creditor should get what because there will be nothing to give them.

There would be still money in the bank even if I use all the insurance money anyway, plus the funeral would have to be over £5k

Already got the funeral ball rolling

Mojisola

xoxo wrote: »

If you don't want to be given the money left over, is there a reason why you can't make the funeral + headstone come to the amount due from the insurance policies? A bigger flower display, slightly upgraded coffin etc, it's easy to build the funeral cost up. Then there's nothing left over to be returned to you from your Mums bank account, and it solves you the headache of trying to work out which creditor should get what because there will be nothing to give them.

Things like headstones aren't counted as funeral expenses. If you spend out on one, the creditors could make you put that amount back into Mum's estate.

heatherw_01

Using the existing stone anyway, so won't be doing that

heatherw_01

Spoke the the FD. He said don't worry about the payments, you will have a month to pay it. I told him it was coming from life insurance and he said that's fine. I also told him one could pay up front (AXA) I said I will ask on Monday and he said that's fine, give them my details and tell them to call me. Don't think they will call him, but he seems happy to do whatever

Hopefully AXA will pay the FD about half, then phoenix send a cheque to me addressed to my mum, I pay that into her bank and the bank pays the rest. Hopfully will go smoothly.

The Phoenix claim form is very complicated.
I am assuming even though I will be getting a cheque addressed to my mum, I am still classed as the claimant and need to fill all the info sections in as myself and just put my mum as the payee?
(I will clarify this will the insurance too)

I would have gotten phoenix to pay the FD directly too, but they will only pay a final bill which if AXA agree to pay the FD directly, then the phoenix life policy is larger than the remaining balance;

AXA - £1920 (bank payment only?)
Phoenix - £2464 (cheque, bank payment or direct to funeral)
Funeral bill - (roughly) £3100

Am I right in what I am going to do?
-Getting AXA to pay FD (if they will, if not then it would have to be my bank account and into my mums and then to the FD)
- Then getting Phoenix to pay a cheque to me in the name of my mum, then into her bank, then onto the funeral director?

Will be calling AXA on monday to see how they will pay the money

Remeber my mums bank is frozen and will only accept cheques addressed to "the late".
If anyone can see a better way of paying the funeral let me know.

hope I made sense

dzug1

Your mum's bank account should be totally frozen, allowing neither deposits nor payments other than a direct payment by the bank to the FD.

So any institution that will not pay the FD direct should send a cheque to you which you pay into your bank account and then pay any bills direct. They will want some evidence that you are entitled to the money - usually the death certificate and a form to be filled in.

If they are awkward they may (try to) insist on probate or Letter of Administration. Kick up a fuss if they do.

getmore4less

dzug1 wrote: »

Your mum's bank account should be totally frozen, allowing neither deposits nor payments other than a direct payment by the bank to the FD.

So any institution that will not pay the FD direct should send a cheque to you which you pay into your bank account and then pay any bills direct. They will want some evidence that you are entitled to the money - usually the death certificate and a form to be filled in.

If they are awkward they may (try to) insist on probate or Letter of Administration. Kick up a fuss if they do.

This is an insovent estate, the OP should not be getting involved in any bill payments EXCEPT the funeral

The main problem is they(OP) are not entitled to the money.

zzzLazyDaisy

OP I am very sorry for your loss.

The same thing happened to me when my sister died - just £200 in her account, no other assets, and lots of debts. I am a solicitor, but at the time I was in shock and grieving, with no-one to help me, and found the whole process a nightmare, so I can understand how confusing this must be for you.

In my case, I telephoned the housing association to inform them she had died and that I wished to terminate the tenancy. I was told that it was a term of the tenancy that I had to give once month's notice, even if the reason was that the tenant had died, and that if I did not pay the rent for the month's notice, they would take ME to court for the money. She lived a four hour drive from me, so I took the few personal belonging from the flat that I wanted, locked the door and posted the key back. I don't know who cleared the flat, I presume it was the housing association.

I also telephoned the utility providers, and was told by BT that there was an outstanding bill of £50 which I was personally responsible for as I was her next of kin. That was rubbish. I didn't even send death certificates to them, I left the housing association to sort the utility providers out.

The point is, I had no legal responsibility to do anything. Not to clear the flat, or to pay any outstanding rent, or to pay any bills.

All those things were my sister's responsibility, and when she died, they became the responsibility of the estate. I refused to administer the estate, and left the creditors to do whatever they wanted.

The only thing I did was to send the funeral bill to the bank and they paid the £200 to the funeral director. I had to pay the rest out of my own money - fortunately I could afford to do this.

My advice to you is to either have the insurances paid direct to the funeral director, or have them paid directly into her bank account. If you really cannot do either of these things, then have the cheque paid to you, and then write a cheque for the exact same amount to 'the late Name' and pay it into her account (so anyone asking can easily see where it went).

Present the funeral directors bill to the bank and get them to pay it.

After that, tell anyone who contacts you that Mrs [Name] has died and you do not know who is administering the estate. The most you should do then is to provide a copy of the death certificate, if you have not already done so. You may also wish to give them the bank's address. If any of the creditors want to take it further, they will have to get probate and try and get money from the bank. That is their problem.

The thing for you to remember is

You do not have any responsibility or liability for dealing with your late mum's financial affairs. You are not personally responsible for paying her debts, or for dealing with the estate.

If companies or organisations try to make you feel responsible, just repeat that you do not know who is dealing with the estate, and you cannot help them.

Just deal with the funeral, and then wash your hands of the whole thing. I know that might seem harsh, but you have no legal responsibility for dealing with any of this.

Boots888

Heather! You are doing all the right things, in fact, acting over and above what you need to be doing.

Well done you, I understand things need to be done and finalised and you're doing a grand job.

You have, however, been informed that this need not be your responsibilty.

These things can happen so quick and your reaction is understandable, but, you should be grieving. I worry that you are going to burn out over this and it's not what your mother or anyone wants.

Take heed: You don't have to confront this, right now - if at all.

I know it's easier to live in denial but you must, for your sake, take some time out here. Everybody will, understand, especially the funeral director and creditors, hell! even the council won't expect anything from you right now.

You've done the best you can and will continue to do so, but you must rest yourself for a while.

heatherw_01

When I have sorted out the funeral, should I still send off copies of the death certificate to each company and just give her address?