Debts to pay after dads death

Jkerry

Dad has recently died and has left debts to be paid. The property he and my mum have has an interest only mortgage and is tenants in common. In order to pay these debts from dads part of the estate the house will need to be sold. Probate has just been granted. My question is, is there a time frame in which the debtors have to be paid and can they add interest to the debts or force the sale of the house if the debts aren't paid within a set time frame. Would appreciate any help and knowledge. If possible I would like to think we could put off putting the house on the market for a couple of months as my mum is still not in a great place, dads death was sudden and a huge shock so to give her a little longer before any more big changes to her life would be best.

Keep_pedalling

The equity in the house automatically pases to your mother and does not forn part of his estate so if he has no other assets his estate is insolvent. It is possible for creditors to pursue the surviving owner for unsecued dept (see post 9 in this thread) but the cost of doing that is only worth it if the dept is a large one.

As it sounds like your father had no life insurence in place to pay off the interest only mortgage then the house may need to be sold to pay that off at some stage but it is unlikely that you will need to do that for unsecured loans, and remember funeral costs have priority over unsecured dept.

You should also be very careful in how you procede, administering an insolvent estate can leave you liable to the depts if you get it wrong.

How big are the loans? and does your father have any other assets?

Jkerry

The debts total around £15000 but because the house is tenants in common half of the equity is mums and half dads. So half of any equity in the house will become part of dads estate. No he has no other assets.

Keep_pedalling

Jkerry wrote: »

The debts total around £15000 but because the house is tenants in common half of the equity is mums and half dads. So half of any equity in the house will become part of dads estate. No he has no other assets.

Sorry, I had a senior moment there, sounds the house will need to be sold. The only other option would be equity release but I suppose your mum is not the one inheriting his portion of the house so that would rule that out.

A horrible situation to be in.

Jkerry

I should add that the £15000 is made up of a few loans the biggest being £8000 another around £6000 and a few other smaller bits and bobs. We had the property valued for probate purposes and there will be enough from dads half of the equity to pay off his debts, but selling the house will be the only way of releasing that equity, but can we delay putting house on the market for a couple of months or so or will debtors become impatient or is there a legal requirement for us to pay within 6 months for example?

Thanks for your reply

Jkerry

senior moments!!! I've had more than my fair share of those lately.

Keep_pedalling

Jkerry wrote: »

I should add that the £15000 is made up of a few loans the biggest being £8000 another around £6000 and a few other smaller bits and bobs. We had the property valued for probate purposes and there will be enough from dads half of the equity to pay off his debts, but selling the house will be the only way of releasing that equity, but can we delay putting house on the market for a couple of months or so or will debtors become impatient or is there a legal requirement for us to pay within 6 months for example?

Thanks for your reply

You do need to settle the depts within reasonable time but there is no actual set time you need to do this. Most creditors will be more than reasonable in these circumstances, you need the time to both sell the house and find alternative accommodation for your mother.

Jkerry

Thanks for all your help. We know selling the house was to come and mum and dad we're going to do it together in time but now she is in her own would be nice to think she doesn't have to rush out of there so soon after dad dying.

konark

Generally a time frame of about 1 year for settling the estate and paying off debts wouldn't be unreasonable. Don't let them hassle you for payment before this, be sure that if a solicitor were to be the executor no-one's seeing penny-one before 10 months.

Yorkshireman99

Jkerry wrote: »

Dad has recently died and has left debts to be paid. The property he and my mum have has an interest only mortgage and is tenants in common. In order to pay these debts from dads part of the estate the house will need to be sold. Probate has just been granted. My question is, is there a time frame in which the debtors have to be paid and can they add interest to the debts or force the sale of the house if the debts aren't paid within a set time frame. Would appreciate any help and knowledge. If possible I would like to think we could put off putting the house on the market for a couple of months as my mum is still not in a great place, dads death was sudden and a huge shock so to give her a little longer before any more big changes to her life would be best.

Have you published the statutory notices in the London Gazette and a local paper in case there are any debts you don!!!8217;t know about?

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Have you published the statutory notices in the London Gazette and a local paper in case there are any debts you don!!!8217;t know about?

Unless you are certain that there are no other debts that is something you should do. You also need to write to all the known creditors. Send thenm a copy of the death certificate ask them for inform them them that the estate will not be settle outstanding depts until the house has been sold.

If any repayments are coming from thejoint account you need to ask the back to stop them when you inform them of his death.