Insolvent estate care home bill

purple321

Not sure if this is the right board, sorry if not. My dad died last year leaving no assets and overdrawn at the bank. (no house was in housing association, no car & very few possessions) He didn't have debt with lots of people just the overdrawn bank (about £400 overdrawn I think) who seem ok that there is no money in the estate but now there's been a care home bill addressed to the estate who having been told there's no money have said it still needs paying cos at the time he was in the care home he would have been liable for it or something to those words. I wasn't the person they spoke to about it - is it cos they didn't say the exact phrase " there are no assets in the estate"? or is there a magic way for them to accept it? I'm pretty sure we (his children) aren't liable to pay it are we?

andyfromotley

Provided that you children signed no agreement with the care agency then you have no responsibility. Your dads estate pwes them the money. There are no assetts, they arent getting paid. Whoever is handling his estate needs to file probate. (google it). But dont worry you are not on the hook.

Torry_Quine

No you aren't liable to pay. If there is no money in his estate then it will not be paid.

National_Debtline

Hi purple321


As the above posters have observed, this is a bill payable by the estate. If the estate is non-existent, then that is that.


You may find the following guide of use in dealing with any outstanding debts left in your late father's name:


https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/21%20EW%20Dealing%20with%20debts%20when%20someone%20dies/Default.aspx


Dennis
@natdebtline

McKneff

Why was he in a place that he had to pay for.
Surely the council would have sorted him out at the time he needed to go into the home.

Who decided about what was going to happen to him.

purple321

We're not filing probate as there is no money at all and the charges would probably end up more than this bill.

We didn't want him going in a care home he had a fall and the hospital wouldn't discharge him to home, it was supposed to be temporary he was only there 2 weeks before he deteriorated and went back to hospital. I'm not sure how much the bill will be cos the first one they sent is wrong its for about 8 weeks instead of 2! If they fix it right i'm presuming it will be about £400 but it's still money he didn't have.

They said he had to pay for his care, he had a small private pension about £500 a month but him and my brother were still paying full rent and bills on the house which dad was the tenant - it didn't matter to them that he still needed to be paying the rent & bills on the HA house cos he was supposed to be going back there!

andyfromotley

really useful link with template letters

https://www.bereavementadvice.org/topics/probate-and-legal/insolvent-estates

tori.k

Then it should have been covered by the NHS continuing healthcare if they discharged him into a care facility sounds like there has been a breakdown of communication somewhere, If there is no money in the estate they usually just ask for a copy of the death certificate and then just write the debt off.