Some questions after my mums recent sudden death

elsien

I would suggest getting the funeral director to invoice the bank directly and also contacting the bank's dedicated bereavement department.
If this fails, make a formal complaint to the bank - you have nothing to lose by doing this.

This may help:
https://bereavementadvice.org/topics/probate-and-legal/insolvent-estates

It does seem to say that funeral expenses take priority over unsecured debt such as bank loans.

Yorkshireman99

I am sorry to say that the bank have no legal obligation to pay unless there was some insurance for the loan. Obviously their bereavment department got it wrong.

Yorkshireman99

elsien wrote: »

I would suggest getting the funeral director to invoice the bank directly and also contacting the bank's dedicated bereavement department.
If this fails, make a formal complaint to the bank - you have nothing to lose by doing this.

This may help:
https://bereavementadvice.org/topics/probate-and-legal/insolvent-estates

It does seem to say that funeral expenses take priority over unsecured debt such as bank loans.

The link you gave states that where a bank has more than one account they can offset one against the other. If the debts exceed the credits then the bank have no obigation to pay, There is little point in making a complaint to the bank since they have done nothing wrong apart from the bereavement dept.

Katychaos

Firstly take a deep breath. This has all been a terrible shock and you are dealing with issues that could seem insurmountable at present.

From your post your mother’s estate would seem to be insolvent:
£6000 debt to bank - £4000 of which has been covered by money in an account. A further £1000 approx also paid by a refund to her account. So that leaves approx £1000 owing to the bank.

Her credit card debt £160 is also owing.

In addition there is the £507 owed to her friend.

If there is no more money to come - outstanding wages etc then there is insufficient money to pay the debts and you or your father need to contact the creditors and explain this. You and your father are under no obligation to pay any of these if your mother’s estate does not have sufficient funds. As long as the debts were hers alone. Whether you feel morally obliged is a different matter.

In relation to the funeral, who arranged this? The liability for the costs rests with whoever made the arrangement with the funeral directors. Normally it would come from the estate, but as you have found this is not the case here. As well as the £100 per week bereavement payments your father should have received a bereavement payment of £2500 and could pay the funeral costs from this. That would remove any stress in relation to concerns re funeral directors and interest.

I am sorry you are having to deal so suddenly with all of this. My tip would be to write everything down and to keep a record of all your actions. In the stress of sudden bereavement it is easy to forget things that you have already done.

When you are feeling stronger you could ask for copies of the tapes/transcripts of the calls to the emergency services - I believe you ought to be able to do this under a freedom of information request. There may be a cost. However if you plan to persue any action having that information could be important. These days everything is taped and recorded ‘for training purposes’ in the case of the emergency services it is done as a matter of course, so whatever was said will be available to you.

Take care of yourself.

TBagpuss

I think the bank may well be wrong. Funeral costs are the first priority, and unsecured debts (which is what the loan and credit card are) will come after that. I don't think that the banks normal right to offset one account against another supersedes this.

see https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/dealing-with-the-debts-of-someone-who-has-died

It may be worth contacting the banks bereavement team, and also asking for their formal complaints process.

It may well be that even if they are technically entitled to do this,it would be appropriate for them to pay the (reasonable) funeral costs first.

Yorkshireman99

Sorry to be a wet blanket but the law is very clear on offsetting. Since the bank is a net creditor the funeral costs do not override this. Technically the estate is insolvent and having intermeddled the OP has made herself liable. The OP really should get some advice from the CAB.

Flugelhorn

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Sorry to be a wet blanket but the law is very clear on offsetting. Since the bank is a net creditor the funeral costs do not override this. Technically the estate is insolvent and having intermeddled the OP has made herself liable. The OP really should get some advice from the CAB.

presume it may have been different if the loan was not through the bank?

Savvy_Sue

SeriouslyStressedOut wrote: »

I've also spoken to the council this morning and he's now going to be getting a discount for being a single person.

You know that will only be until you move in with him, right?

Yorkshireman99

Flugelhorn wrote: »

presume it may have been different if the loan was not through the bank?

Yes. If the deceased had a credit balance of £4,000 with a bank and had borrowed £6,000 from another unconnected organistion then the bank would have nothing to offset against. However the estate might still be insolvent because the debts exceed the assets.

SeriouslyStressedOut

There!!!8217;s definitely no PPI or any sort of life insurance to claim from.

I think we!!!8217;re going to sit tight until next week and allow the letter and funeral bill to be received by the bank and then speak to their bereavement team and see what they say.

If there!!!8217;s no way to access the money to cover the bill, we!!!8217;ll apply for the funeral grant through the DWP and if that also fails, I can get an interest free loan through work, or my dad or myself can put it on a credit card and we!!!8217;ll sell some things to pay it off quicker. We!!!8217;ll figure something out. I just wish it was clearer from the outset with the bank as nothing was explained during the initial notification and we were just given the pack to read, which is contradictory like I said in an earlier post.

I!!!8217;ve spoken to the funeral director to keep him up to date so he!!!8217;s fully aware of the situation and happy to extend the payment due date by a further 60 days to give us chance to sort things out.

The credit card was easy to sort. She!!!8217;d had it for several years and paid it off in full each month. The previous month she!!!8217;d paid almost £3000, but at the time of death the balance was around £160. They immediately said it!!!8217;d be written off and to forward the death certificate when it was received.

We!!!8217;ve not yet set up a meeting with dads Macmillan nurse, as I want to speak to him first rather than him thinking I!!!8217;m going behind his back.

Now on to sorting out any pensions. I!!!8217;m dreading that task, but the sooner that!!!8217;s sorted the better.

Yes, the council tax benefit will only be temporary. We know that, but even if my house sells tomorrow it!!!8217;ll take at least 2-3 months to complete. It could also take several months to sell so he may as well get the benefit of lower council tax temporarily until we can move in with him.