Terminally ill with debts

rattters

Good evening.

I am currently on a self managed debt management plan and doing very well- thanks to a lot of help and support on this forum.

I actually live in Spain now- caring for a terminally ill relative. It has come to light that she has a debt management plan for 3 credit cards back in the UK.

She also has a business loan, credit card and overdraft which she has been paying- not included in the DMP. The business was in her maiden name.

None of the debts are in her husbands name.

Very briefly, she has £400 in state pension coming in. She lives in a property her husband has bought in his name (no mortgage) he has no income, they are living off the equity from the sale of their house in the UK.

my question is would she better to request a write off of her debts? Will her husband be liable for them on her death? (prognosis 6-12 months)

Any other options? This is causing her an immense amount of anxiety and I hope to alleviate this for her.

Many thanks in advance

sourcrates

Hi,

Oh heck, sad situation, all I can say is if the debts are entirely in her name, and she has no assets, the debts will die with her.

If there is an estate, funeral costs and any secured debts will be paid out of what is available, if there's nothing left, any unsecured debts will be written off.

No one else can be made liable for anyone else's debts.

I hope that may be of some comfort.

I wouldn't bother continuing to pay if I was her.

macman

Her estate will be liable for the debts, not her husband, unless they are joint accounts.

rattters

Many thanks for your replies- indeed she has no assets. Would a letter to her creditors be of any use? At least to stop all the worrying letters?

Thanks

fatbelly

Well the letters should not be too worrying as there's not much they can do. They're not going to get their money back and if you do this correctly they may take a commercial decision to write this off.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Write-off-the-debt-%28sole-name%29.aspx

is a starting point though feel free to adapt.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Write-off-the-debt-second-request-%28sole-name%29.aspx

is a follow-up though token offers are a waste of time