Advice on Credit card debt please

cajturbo

Hi I'll try to keep this as short as possible! My mum and dad made their wills in October last year, good job really as mum died in November and dad died in January. Myself and my husband are named executors, almost everything is sorted out, although we had a slight niggle with a credit card company. They both had separate credit cards with the same company. Mums amounted to £3000 and dads £1000. After seeing the solicitor to begin probate proceedings, she advised us to write to the CC company to see whether mums debt could be written off, due to the fact that everything mum owned was passed to dad. There was a bit of a grey area regarding the car (in mums name, dad didn't drive for the last few years) so we made the company aware of the car situation and said that if they wanted to pursue the debt then it would have to be from the sale of the car, as dad was still alive at this point.
Since dad has passed away they made the decision to write off mums debt. The probate was granted and the house and car are the only assets left and are both now up for sale. The credit card company have written to me today regarding making payment for dads debt (£1000 )Here comes the question, Although there is enough money (just) in dads bank account to pay for this, Ive paid out just over £2000 of my own money for solicitors fees, memorial plaques, home insurance etc. Would I be entitled to recoup the remaining money from dads account to cover my losses and tell the CC company there is no money to pay the CC debt until the house/Car sale is complete?

Yorkshireman99

cajturbo wrote: »

Hi I'll try to keep this as short as possible! My mum and dad made their wills in October last year, good job really as mum died in November and dad died in January. Myself and my husband are named executors, almost everything is sorted out, although we had a slight niggle with a credit card company. They both had separate credit cards with the same company. Mums amounted to £3000 and dads £1000. After seeing the solicitor to begin probate proceedings, she advised us to write to the CC company to see whether mums debt could be written off, due to the fact that everything mum owned was passed to dad. There was a bit of a grey area regarding the car (in mums name, dad didn't drive for the last few years) so we made the company aware of the car situation and said that if they wanted to pursue the debt then it would have to be from the sale of the car, as dad was still alive at this point.
Since dad has passed away they made the decision to write off mums debt. The probate was granted and the house and car are the only assets left and are both now up for sale. The credit card company have written to me today regarding making payment for dads debt (£1000 )Here comes the question, Although there is enough money (just) in dads bank account to pay for this, Ive paid out just over £2000 of my own money for solicitors fees, memorial plaques, home insurance etc. Would I be entitled to recoup the remaining money from dads account to cover my losses and tell the CC company there is no money to pay the CC debt until the house/Car sale is complete?

What is the total value of the estate? If the house is sold then there should be funds to pay the debt and the reasonable expenses you have incurred.

cajturbo

Hi the house has only just gone on the market, been actively trying to sell the car for a few weeks with no luck as yet, unless we give it to those companies that buy 'any car' but give you nothing near its real value! Advice still needed please.

Yorkshireman99

cajturbo wrote: »

Hi the house has only just gone on the market, been actively trying to sell the car for a few weeks with no luck as yet, unless we give it to those companies that buy 'any car' but give you nothing near its real value! Advice still needed please.

In which case there is no excuse for not paying the credit card debt but they may have to wait.

cajturbo

Thanks. I do intend on paying it but my question was am I entitled to cover my losses first? If anyone knows for certain please advise.

TBagpuss

I would sugges that you write back to th card comapny and confirm that you note the debt and that it will be cleared once the assets of the estate have been gathered in. You could add that the main asset is a property and that therefore you are unlikely to be able to to clear the debt until the hosue is sold, and ask them to confi mthat they will freeze any interest on the account.

Legally, I think that you would be entitled to pay for the funeral costs ahead of any other debt but not necessarily other expenses. in practice however as long as you let them know that you areselling the hosue andthat they will be paid, i would expect that to be accepted as it is a fairly common position.