No WILL left ... Help please !

crystal_clear

I hope someone out there can point me in the right direction.

My Aunt has just passed away leaving my Uncle behind (both pension age)

they have a house bought and paid for but do not know if joint names or my uncles (old school marraige he worked she kept house and children)

my aunt said will's funeral and all them things sorted paid for before her death and turns out we cannot find any trace of any of this.

Uncle in a real mess found several personal loans and forms of creditors that she had.

no money in her bank other than a bit of pension. he has isa and a small bit of savings but panicing that will all be eaten up on funeral costs.

can anyone point me in the right direction as to how i can get template letters to write to creditors she had to hopefully remove that burden from his shoulders.

would he need to get a copy of deeds and do anything if its a joint owned property ?

is there any state grants he would be allowed to help going forward as his pension would only cover half the monthly bills on the house.

i am trying to help him as best i can and reduce some of his pressures at this sad time, and i dont want to point him towards a solicitor if i can avoid as he just hasnt the money to spare to pay after funeral has been paid for.

any help or suggestions would be gratefully received

many thanks in advance
Crystalclear

RAS

Hi

Start by taking a few deep breaths. Both of you.

You absolutely must find out how the house was held before either of you do ANYTHING.

Go to the Land Registry and pay the required £3 to find out if it is held as tenants in common or as joint tenants or in his name. It is probably joint tenants but sometimes older people are encouraged to transfer to tenants in common in anticipation that this will protect part the property if either party has to go into a care home.

If it is joint tenants, your uncle and aunt both owned 100% of the house jointly and severally. He now owns 100% of the hose solely as the survivor. That would mean that the house is not included in your aunts estate. Ditto is the house is in his name

So this is very very important because it means it is much less likely that anyone can claim aunts debts from uncle.

If uncle knew nothing about the debts then it is likely that these accounts were in your aunts sole name? If that is the case, the creditors cannot chase uncle for the debts.

Are any of the debts in joint names?

RAS

Now you need to go to https://www.turn2s.org.uk and find out what benefits he might claim. Start by informing the Council that he is the sole householder and getting the 25% percent discount immediately.

Land_Registry

Take a look at our online guide as to what to do when a property owner dies.
As G_M explains checking how they held the property is important - if the property is registered then this should make it easier to deal with.
You can search online against the property address for £3 to check the register.
A second online guide deals with the issue of joint ownership as well which will help identify what you are looking for.
Post again if you remain unsure re the property and registration or contact our Customer Support as appropriate

getmore4less

RAS wrote: »

Hi

Start by taking a few deep breaths. Both of you.

You absolutely must find out how the house was held before either of you do ANYTHING.

Go to the Land Registry and pay the required £3 to find out if it is held as tenants in common or as joint tenants or in his name. It is probably joint tenants but sometimes older people are encouraged to transdfer to tenants in common in anticipation that this will protect part the property if either party has to go into a care home.

If it is joint tenants, your uncle and aunt both owned 100% of the house jointly and severally. He now owns 100% of the hose solely as the survivor. That would mean that the house is not included in your aunts estate. Ditto is the house is in his name

So this is very very important because it means it is much less likely that anyone can claim aunts debts from uncle.

If uncle knew nothing about the debts then it is likely that these accounts were in your aunts sole name? If that is the case, the creditors cannot chase uncle for the debts.

Are any of the debts in joint names?

This is not strictly the case, creditors can come after joint assets, allthough they may not especialy if they have to take action because no one take up admin of the estate.
That does not mean forcing the house to be sold it can involve charges.

Untill the full picture is established it will be difficult to decide the best course of action.

first step is gather information
house
assets
debts

Think about getting the account statement to see if there are any savings that were contributed to from the know accounts.

It will take time to get the creditors to back of, don't pay any thing to anyone till the picture is clear.

crystal_clear

Thank you all so far i have registered with land registry paid the £3 fee and now confirmed that the property is freehold (this i knew before) also its listed as a joint ownership both my uncle and aunts names on the deeds.

Also I am very confident there is no where near enough value in the home to make this subject to any inheretance tax notification brackets if that helps in any way.

Do I need to get uncle to lodge anywhere to have property transfered to a sole ownership n his name or is this automatic ?

many thanks again
crystalclear

RAS

crystal_clear wrote: »

Thank you all so far i have registered with land registry paid the £3 fee and now confirmed that the property is freehold (this i knew before) also its listed as a joint ownership both my uncle and aunts names on the deeds.

You need to know if is is a joint tenancy or tenants in common. In both cases it would have both uncle and aunts' names on the deeds.

crystal_clear

RAS wrote: »

You need to know if is is a joint tenancy or tenants in common. In both cases it would have both uncle and aunts' names on the deeds.

REGISTER EXTRACT
Title Number : *********
Address of Property : **********
Price Stated : Not Available
Registered Owner(s) : uncle and aunt of address******
Lender(s) : None

Thats exactly as info obtained i have deleted **** any personal details

no mention of joint tenancy or tenants in common only registered owners as i stated previously both names on deeds

Can i also ask if anyone knows if there are any template letters available that i could download and send to creditors informing them that my aunts died and no estate left ?

crystalclear

crystal_clear

Sorry for back to back post just that i have discovered some more info in land registry

It appears reading further down that there are 2 seperate intrim charging orders on the register in my aunts name one in 2006 and the other in 2008 ............ What on earth do i do with them I have no idea if regular payments were made what balances still owing at this time and I also dont know how i move forward in respect of changing deeds to show uncle as sole owner or is this not required ??

as there intrim charging orders can i help him have them removed if so any help how to go about that would be welcomed.

crystalclear

getmore4less

You are going to have to dig deeper into the financial affairs.

I think I would get the credit reports to see if that helps throw up anything.
Also look for any CCJ

It may not be possible to remove the charges

Land_Registry

As it is registered in their joint names you should refer to our FAQ re what to do when a property owner dies. There is no automatic process for updating the register and whilst it is not compulsory to do anything it is a simple application with no fee attached.

As far as the charging orders are concerned other posters are likely to be better placed to advise as to how to find out more details. I would though expect the entries to refer to particulars of the court, the date of the order, the full court reference and the parties involved. Contacting the court(s) for more details might be an option although who they will reveal that information to I am not sure and it may be that you need some form of proof re who is authorised to deal with her estate etc?

As others have suggested you may need to do some more 'digging' to ascertain what monies may be outstanding as well as whether her death has impacted on the debts in some way.

Removing the entries is again quite simple procedurally - see our Practice Guide 19 section 3.8 but the application will have to include sufficient evidence that the protected interest has come to an end. If your aunt's death has not impacted on the matter then you are likely to be dependant on those with the benefit of the charging orders to release them.

As I say others will have more knowledge on such things although I would recommend that you/your Uncle get some legal advice as well.