Bankruptcy

ljs_3

Help please. My brother in law was found dead in his flat. He was a very heavy drinker but seemingly died of natural causes. We have been going through his papers and it would seem that he owes loads and loads of money and was being taken to court on two different counts. He is obviously bankrupt. Can anyone offer me any advice as to what to do ? Is anyone else liable for the debts?. Will I have to take charge of the situation or will a professional body do it? Do I have to tell all interested parties that he has died or can I just tell his bank ? Any help at all would be appreciated.

ljs_3

ljs wrote: »

Help please. My brother in law was found dead in his flat. He was a very heavy drinker but seemingly died of natural causes. We have been going through his papers and it would seem that he owes loads and loads of money and was being taken to court on two different counts. He is obviously bankrupt. Can anyone offer me any advice as to what to do ? Is anyone else liable for the debts?. Will I have to take charge of the situation or will a professional body do it? Do I have to tell all interested parties that he has died or can I just tell his bank ? Any help at all would be appreciated.

I realise this isn't the correct place to post this question so can anybody tell me where I should have put it? Any help would be appreciated.

jonesMUFCforever

No problem I'll try to deal with your situation here.
First of all my condolences.

Do you know if he made a will?
Do you have access to his papers and bank statements?

If so look out for anything that possibly might be a life policy payment.

When registering the death you need to ask for as many copies of the death certificate as you think you will need (I think they are about £2 each), but this will make things easier than having to send one certificate to each bank/company etc and then having to wait for its return before you can move on to the next one etc.

If he made a will then the executors should be doing all this.
If the executors are a firm of solicitors then they might not want to do it if they know there are not going to be paid so they might relinquish their duties.

Someone will need to add up all the assets and liabilities of the estate.
First claim will be funeral costs - local authority will have grants if he did not have anything to put towards this although your family may consider that they do not want him to be buried in a pauper's grave. This should be your family's only liability.

Anything else will have to be written off unless secured.
You don't say if he was married or had children or if he owned his own house. If any of this applies you will need proper legal advice as the children's needs come first before anyone can force a sale to pay off his debts.

ljs_3

ejones999 wrote: »

No problem I'll try to deal with your situation here.
First of all my condolences.

Do you know if he made a will?
Do you have access to his papers and bank statements?

If so look out for anything that possibly might be a life policy payment.

When registering the death you need to ask for as many copies of the death certificate as you think you will need (I think they are about £2 each), but this will make things easier than having to send one certificate to each bank/company etc and then having to wait for its return before you can move on to the next one etc.

If he made a will then the executors should be doing all this.
If the executors are a firm of solicitors then they might not want to do it if they know there are not going to be paid so they might relinquish their duties.

Someone will need to add up all the assets and liabilities of the estate.
First claim will be funeral costs - local authority will have grants if he did not have anything to put towards this although your family may consider that they do not want him to be buried in a pauper's grave. This should be your family's only liability.

Anything else will have to be written off unless secured.
You don't say if he was married or had children or if he owned his own house. If any of this applies you will need proper legal advice as the children's needs come first before anyone can force a sale to pay off his debts.

Thank you so much for your advice. He was a single man living in a rented flat. I have been through his papers and he owes thousands of pounds and was being persued through the courts. He was overdrawn at the bank and there is no money for a funeral. Clearly no one will take this on and it will be down to my family. I really don't want to give my name and address to companies chasing him for money. I want to do the right thing but not if it's going to cost me a fortune and take up months of my time. The temptation to return the keys to the housing company and just tell his pension company and his bank, is tempting. After all, I won't need probate as he doesn't have any assets. What do you think ? If this sounds harsh it's because he has caused so many problems over so many years.

jonesMUFCforever

I can fully understand your point of view.
No I don't think you are being harsh but banks won't accept details of his death without a contact name and address.
I would simply draw up a simple letter on your PC at home to the effect that he has died - there are no funds to pay anyone off and that he died intestate. Send that off with a copy of the death certificate and you should not have any major problems.
I say major as some creditors will try to get as much information out of you as possible.
The funeral has to be down to the family - if you/they are not willing or cannot assist with the cost then inform the undertakers now as they will know what to do with obtaining death grants etc.

Last thing to remember is that you or your family do not owe a penny of his debts - some creditors will try to make you think otherwise!

ljs_3

ejones999 wrote: »

I can fully understand your point of view.
No I don't think you are being harsh but banks won't accept details of his death without a contact name and address.
I would simply draw up a simple letter on your PC at home to the effect that he has died - there are no funds to pay anyone off and that he died intestate. Send that off with a copy of the death certificate and you should not have any major problems.
I say major as some creditors will try to get as much information out of you as possible.
The funeral has to be down to the family - if you/they are not willing or cannot assist with the cost then inform the undertakers now as they will know what to do with obtaining death grants etc.

Last thing to remember is that you or your family do not owe a penny of his debts - some creditors will try to make you think otherwise!

Thanks for your help on this. The thank you button has vanished !

mushroom1982

There is a section under debt free wanabee called 'bankruptcy and living with it'. If you repost this there will be lots of people to help you. Is it definately bankruptcy and not merely a ccj?

jonesMUFCforever

mushroom1982 wrote: »

There is a section under debt free wanabee called 'bankruptcy and living with it'. If you repost this there will be lots of people to help you. Is it definately bankruptcy and not merely a ccj?

If you read the first post I think you will find that it is irrelevent.

RFW

ejones999 wrote: »

Last thing to remember is that you or your family do not owe a penny of his debts - some creditors will try to make you think otherwise!

That is true. Had a similar experience when I told a utilities company that some monies owed was by a deceased relative, after I had given them the information they transferred the debt to my name! Only after several months did I manage to get them to change the details they held.

Banks and finance companies will easily write off the debts and most have departments set up for dealing with it. Citizen's Advice Bureau would be a great help for you.

mushroom1982

ejones999 wrote: »

If you read the first post I think you will find that it is irrelevent.

The reason I mentioned this is because of the funeral as I understand there is a process called 'paupers grave' when a bankrupt dies but I am no expert in these matters.