Sudden Death and Debt

grazzzz

So my girlfriends ex husband (separated 9 years ) died suddenly he had no money or assets he lived above a pub and lived a day to day existence working as a minibus driver on a day to day basis.
His son has had to find the money to pay for the funeral (6k) he left nothing.
Today Barclays have written to him saying there is an £800 overdraft which needs settling they are saying the son is liable?
Should he pay it out of his own money
He went in to the bank to tell them he had died in June they have also continued to add interest charges.
I have advised him to go in to the bank with the death certificate and explain he left no money
Any advice appreciated

lincroft1710

Son is not liable for father's debts unless he was a guarantor for the loan, son is also not responsible for funeral costs unless he chooses to instruct a funeral director.

grazzzz

so they are just trying the luck, they have said he needs to pay it

-taff

If the father had left any money in his estate it would have had to be used to pay off his debts after the cost of the funeral.
As there was no money, there is nothing to pay it with.
Tell them they are welcome to take a deceased man to court if they wish but the son will not be paying anything.

grazzzz

i forgot to mention he once worked for the cca and the son gets a small pension every month he didnt leave anything but does get a pension via the civil aviation authority .
He had no money though or any possessions and the money the pension pays is repaying the cost of the funeral and will take many years to recoup as it cost over 6k as they wanted to make sure he had a reasonable send off

Silvertabby

Barclay's can't touch the son's pension - that's his money, not his dad's. As previous posters have said, he isn't liable for his dad's debts - his only problem could be convincing Barclay's that there is no money to pay them.

When my sister died 10 years ago, her assets only covered half of her funeral expenses (fortunately Mr S and I were able to pay the rest). She owed rent arrears to the housing association, and was in arrears with her gas and electricity - but they all accepted a letter from me confirming that she hadn't left any assets other than half her funeral expenses (which are classed as a priority debt) .

boo_star

Silvertabby wrote: »

Barclay's can't touch the son's pension - that's his money, not his dad's. As previous posters have said, he isn't liable for his dad's debts - his only problem could be convincing Barclay's that there is no money to pay them.

When my sister died 10 years ago, her assets only covered half of her funeral expenses (fortunately Mr S and I were able to pay the rest). She owed rent arrears to the housing association, and was in arrears with her gas and electricity - but they all accepted a letter from me confirming that she hadn't left any assets other than half her funeral expenses (which are classed as a priority debt) .

They probably want the executor to confirm he had no assets.

Did your father have an executor, OP, or even a will?

-taff

There's only an executor if he left a will. If he didn't, just take the death certificate in, and ask why on earth they think the son is liable.
A pension doesn't normally form part of an estate.

micky2phones

Hi, Barclays are just doing thier job. as a debt they have to ask.

But they is no money so just show them proof of this and what they ask for all should then be ok

[Deleted User]

They're not really doing their job to say the son is liable. To say that is legally wrong. As mentioned, only if he was a guarantor or if he was executor would he be involved in paying Barclays anything. Barclays are the cowpat of banks.

National_Debtline

Hi

I agree with the others. His son isn’t liable if he didn’t sign the credit agreement, and Barclays can only claim against any estate.

We normally suggest writing to the creditor with a copy of the death certificate, and to explain that there was no estate.

This factsheet gives an overview of dealing with debts when someone dies:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/dealing-with-debt-when-someone-dies/bereavement-and-debt.aspx#

James
@natdebtline