Father's debts, how to deal with them ?

Brit27

Sorry guys I've been absent from the forum for a few days .
I can confirm that the yacht ( approx. value £4-5k) was Dad's pride and joy, he was worried that my siblings would want to sell it after his death so passed it over to me, as I had helped him restore it to full health.
If we lose the yacht I will have to accept it, I certainly do not want to end up in trouble because of the sale. I am expecting the Marina where it is moored to claim it against the sunken houseboat. I have been offered help in moving the vessel to another mooring, but have taken advice to keep away from any possible intermeddling.
I did call P&C after I received their letter and was told that somebody would call me back...they never did. On Friday I received a letter from them stating that they would no longer be dealing with the case and that the debts would be passed back to their origins . So I am not at all sure what has happened there.
Meanwhile I am searching for a good probate sol who would deal with this insolvent case, so any suggestions are welcome.

Yorkshireman99

Brit27 wrote: »

Sorry guys I've been absent from the forum for a few days .
I can confirm that the yacht ( approx. value £4-5k) was Dad's pride and joy, he was worried that my siblings would want to sell it after his death so passed it over to me, as I had helped him restore it to full health.
If we lose the yacht I will have to accept it, I certainly do not want to end up in trouble because of the sale. I am expecting the Marina where it is moored to claim it against the sunken houseboat. I have been offered help in moving the vessel to another mooring, but have taken advice to keep away from any possible intermeddling.
I did call P&C after I received their letter and was told that somebody would call me back...they never did. On Friday I received a letter from them stating that they would no longer be dealing with the case and that the debts would be passed back to their origins . So I am not at all sure what has happened there.
Meanwhile I am searching for a good probate sol who would deal with this insolvent case, so any suggestions are welcome.

Most solicitors will not touch an insolvent estate.

Brit27

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Most solicitors will not touch an insolvent estate.

I've noticed that.

getmore4less

Brit27 wrote: »

I did call P&C after I received their letter and was told that somebody would call me back...they never did. On Friday I received a letter from them stating that they would no longer be dealing with the case and that the debts would be passed back to their origins . So I am not at all sure what has happened there.
Meanwhile I am searching for a good probate sol who would deal with this insolvent case, so any suggestions are welcome.

The issue for both is how do they get paid.

There are far easier pickings for solicitors and debt collectors than cases where there are no clear assets to grab before the creditors get their dividends from whats left.

For debt collectors they get their cut from the share to their creditor so are even further down the food chain than the solicitors bottom of the pile are the people actually owed the money.

From what you said there are just not enough assets for anyone to get anything out of this after any fees even if they could do a grab on the bank account and the yacht so I think most will just back off and go away(eventually)

The marina for now may be a sticking point as they still have an angle with that yacht

If you have title I would stick with the line it is yours and nothing to do with the estate. I would consider moving it if you suspect the marina might do the equivalent of clamp it.

securityguy

"The marina for now may be a sticking point as they still have an angle with that yacht"

A difficult angle. They would need to apply for an insolvency order on the estate, and then convince the official receiver to apply for a further court order claiming that the transaction which transferred the yacht was deliberately done to frustrate the payment of debts. As this is a "balance of probabilities" case they might have enough, but the OP's account of the transaction ("he was worried that my siblings would want to sell it after his death so passed it over to me") is a pretty plausible story in the absence of other evidence. They can't just seize the OP's asset and claim that it's somehow related to the estate of the OP's father, because it isn't.