Worried about Dad's Estate and debt

g6jns_2

sydneybean wrote: »

What have they said so far?
When we went to the Yorkshire Bank they just said to wait for letters about the mortgage and the credit card (they are both with yorkshire bank) mum has had a letter saying about the mortgage being overdue so she is writing back to say we were told to wait for them to get in touch with her as it was her name on it too. Have told her it would be an auto generated letter but she is panicking about that. With regards to the credit card i had a call from the girl at the bank who said she had confirmed that the funeral costs have to come out of dads money first, again we have had a letter but we havent responded to that one yet.

Check for PPI on the CC that could make the situation go away.
He had already had some back as it was the one that was in the news a couple of months ago but it was CPI not PPI, there wasnt anything like that on it.

Probably worth an estimate for the personal assets anything substantial
He didnt have anything really, the only furniture we have to sell is an oven and a freezer (which i bought him, does that count)
Do have a free consultation with a solicitor if you can get one. Am going to try to arrange one
On pensions DLA etc. DO check but AIUI unless payments were made after the DOD any overpayment become normal creditors even if paid in advance so don't get priority over the funeral or the CC.
What is AIUI? interesting on pension and dla, i suppose we will just have to see how it all washes out. If we have to pay the credit card then we have to pay it, hopefully they will let me pay it a small amount at a time as i dont have that kind of money and it really isnt fair that mum has to use even more of her savings.

You really need to sit down quietly and work through things methodically. This may be hard but it really is the only way to do it. Unless the house is worth a lot then it seems that there will not be any Inheritance Tax to pay. Assuming from what you say thee house forms part of the estate then that is going to have to be sold to pay off the debts and leave something for the heirs. Perhaps the best thing would be to go and see the CAB taking the paperwork with you. Note that the creditors (such as the credit card company phone supplier etc.) just have to wait until probate is granted and the assets are gathered in. The family has no obligation to pay them.

pmlindyloo

sydneybean wrote: »

ok, so i have gone through the 1" of paperwork that mum has brought over. There is just so much about HM Land Registry, but I have found from a solicitor the conveyance between the vendors.

there is a paragraph that states following a statement saying "Now this deed witnesseth as follows;

"where there are two or more persons included in the expression "the purchaser" the covenents expressed to be made by the purchaser shall be deemed to be made by such persons jointly and severally and they shall be deemed to hold the property as joint tennents legally and beneficially upon trust for sale with all the powers of an absolute owner"

is that what i am looking for?? all the other paperwork from the halifax (original mortgage) just has them both down as having the mortgage.

:mad:

I will tell you where I found mine.

The document is called the Official copy of the register of title.

part B Proprietorship register

3, Restriction: No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation ) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the court.

This means tenants in common.

I do agree that to be absolutely sure you should take all the paperwork to a solicitor (our CAB gives 20 mins free from a local solicitor so worth a try if you can't find your own)

securityguy

g6jns wrote: »

You really need to sit down quietly and work through things methodically. This may be hard but it really is the only way to do it. Unless the house is worth a lot then it seems that there will not be any Inheritance Tax to pay.

Even if the house were worth a lot there wouldn't be any IHT to pay: they were still married, and there is no IHT payable on transfers between spouses.

g6jns_2

securityguy wrote: »

Even if the house were worth a lot there wouldn't be any IHT to pay: they were still married, and there is no IHT payable on transfers between spouses.

Try to help the confused OP rather than be pedantic for the sake of it.

securityguy

g6jns wrote: »

Try to help the confused OP rather than be pedantic for the sake of it.

I am. It means he doesn't need to worry about the value of the house. Your formulation implies that he does. IHT being due on an estate containing house that is occupied makes life complex

g6jns_2

securityguy wrote: »

I am. It means he doesn't need to worry about the value of the house. Your formulation implies that he does. IHT being due on an estate containing house that is occupied makes life complex

On the contrary I said they need not worry about IHT. Please stop muddying the waters.

getmore4less

One new thing I don't think anyone has mentioned.

As the CC and the mortgage are with the same company there is a chance the T&C of one or both allow "set off"(which means they can use the security of the house for the CC debt if they wanted).

IMO and it is just an opinion for this level of debt they will not force a sale no mortgage company can take the potential flack, "forced widow from home"

I very much doubt a court would force a sale either if there was an offer to pay on terms(affordable ones).

For now I would take the line Yorkshire bank WILL be reasonable so let that run,

Again I emphasise things take time as the letter cycle can be weeks for some institutions and DWP, it will all come together just feels a mountain when you start.


I assume she got the single person CT discount when he moved out?

getmore4less

securityguy wrote: »

Even if the house were worth a lot there wouldn't be any IHT to pay: they were still married, and there is no IHT payable on transfers between spouses.

Since we are being pedants.

IF TIC and the house is worth loads(over £1.15m+ which is highly unlikely) then as this is intestate IHT would kick in.

sydneybean

Ooh i feel like I have started arguments, sorry!!:o

For the record, I am a girl, screen name was one of my cats :rotfl:

Anyway, the house is probably worth about £140k tops, and if needs be mum could pay the credit card off, she just doesn't really want to. If it comes to it we will just all have to pitch in as best we can and hope they let us pay it off a bit at a time.

Will try to get an appointment with Solicitor and am going to go through the deeds stuff again, there is loads for all the other people who have owned the house, hardly anything for mum and dad! if that doesnt work i will pay the £3 for the land registry search and see if that tells me anything.

thank you all so much for your help though, because it has helped me be a bit clearer in my head

sydneybean

getmore4less wrote: »

One new thing I don't think anyone has mentioned.



I assume she got the single person CT discount when he moved out?

She did, until my brother moved back home for a couple of months, which was 18months ago!!