Passed away penniless...

wannabesavvy

Good evening

I am hoping that I may get some help as to where to begin the task of sorting out my sister's debts/finances after she sadly took her own life last Thursday.
Her adult children do not have a clue and have asked me as the only organised relative to help them but it appears that just from initial looks she was heavily in debt and was even due to appear in court on Friday for not paying her Council Tax. It is all such a mess and I have no clue where to even start.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received, we are currently attempting to raise the funds requires for her funeral as there is literally not a penny to her name.

Thanking you in advance for any help.

Keep_pedalling

Did she own a house or live in rented accommodation?

If the latter then her estate is insolvent and In cases like this there is no obligation on the family to take on the cost of a funeral unless you wish to, as the LA have a statutory duty to undertake the funeral of a person with no assets.

https://www.thanet.gov.uk/your-services/environmental-health/public-health-funerals/public-health-funerals/

As for any depts you discover, they will be written off as there is no estate to pay them.

If she owns a property however then it will be down to you or her children to administer the estate, which will need to meet funeral costs and all outstanding depts.

wannabesavvy

No property, she rented from a Housing Association and have yet to find out of she owes money on her rent or whether her two adult daughters and grandchild who currently live at the address will be able to stay.
Thanks for confirming what I thought would be the case, I have never had to deal with anything like this before.

Keep_pedalling

wannabesavvy wrote: »

No property, she rented from a Housing Association and have yet to find out of she owes money on her rent or whether her two adult daughters and grandchild who currently live at the address will be able to stay.
Thanks for confirming what I thought would be the case, I have never had to deal with anything like this before.

If her daughters are on the tenancy agreement then they should be able to stay, but that would mean they are also responsible for any outstanding rent and council tax. If they are not then I am not too sure where they stand.

Jenniefour

Just to add, stand your ground with creditors. Simply let them know your sister has passed away, there is no money and you will not be administering the estate. With the exception of what's already been said concerning the two daughters being able to inherit the tenancy, and possibly dealing with outstanding council tax and rent.

Yorkshireman99

wannabesavvy wrote: »

Good evening

I am hoping that I may get some help as to where to begin the task of sorting out my sister's debts/finances after she sadly took her own life last Thursday.
Her adult children do not have a clue and have asked me as the only organised relative to help them but it appears that just from initial looks she was heavily in debt and was even due to appear in court on Friday for not paying her Council Tax. It is all such a mess and I have no clue where to even start.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received, we are currently attempting to raise the funds requires for her funeral as there is literally not a penny to her name.

Thanking you in advance for any help.

You don't need to raise any funds. As the estate is insolvent the local authority HAVE to pay. They will arrange and pay for a simple, but respectful, cremation. As for the debts nobody is responsible and you should simply tell any creditors the estate is insolvent and not deal with.

konark

Her children really need to contact the Housing Assoc ASAP regarding a transfer of temancy,. Is the rent up to date?

TBagpuss

Jenniefour wrote: »

Just to add, stand your ground with creditors. Simply let them know your sister has passed away, there is no money and you will not be administering the estate. With the exception of what's already been said concerning the two daughters being able to inherit the tenancy, and possibly dealing with outstanding council tax and rent.

This.
Informing people that she has died doesn't count as 'intermeddling' with the estate but if you, or her children, start to deal with any finances then you may find that you have put yourself into a position where you could become an administrator, and if you take on the job of administrator you can put yourself in a position of being personally liable to creditors, if you don't get things right in terms of what you do and in what order.

I would suggest that you use the "Tell us once" service https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once to let peopl know she has died, and then consider havign a pro-fora letter you can send to any sreditors, which should simply say something like:

"[sister's full name] of [her address] died on [date].
Her estate is insolvent.
I /We are not administrators of her estate and to the best of our knowledge, no administrator has been appointed.
We are not in a position to accept or respond to any correspondence on behalf of her estate"

Keep copies of the letters you send and if you then get any further correspondence from the same creditor, look up their complaints policy and follow it, stating that they have written to you despite having been explicitly told not to do so and that any further communication will be considered to be harassment.

As others have said, the council should be able to arrange and pay fr a simply funeral. My understanding is that this would typically include a service at the crematorium or cemetary which you and your your sister's family can attend. You/they would not get to chose when or where the funeral took place, but will be told in advance about it if you ask.

If her children want, and if your local council conducts cremations rather than burials, they can probably also request that her ashes be returned to them if they would prefer to make their own arrangements for these to be scattered or buried, but you would need to check with the council.

If they carry out burials then she may not necessarily have a separate grave marker, but you and her children might decide to wait, and save, and have some other memorial to her in a way which is meaningful to you.

I am sorry for your loss.