Care home fees

Nessykins66

My mother died in March 2013 and was in a private care home at the time which she signed the contract for herself and organised payments herself. I was put on my mothers bank account after my father died in December 2008 to make paying bills etc easier to manage and so that I could go and sort her money for her. At this point I would like to say I did not have power of attorney my mother wanted me to do this but my brother objected so it was never done. My mother went into the home after a long stay in hospital and it was decided that she was unable to look after herself at home. She paid her own fees to the home and there was a time that her house was sold to cover costs and they were paid out of the sale. My mom died in hospital in March 2013 and we carried out the funeral and any remaining monies were split 3 ways between myself, sister and brother as per her will. We collected her things from the home and presumed that was it. Last year I received a letter from the home saying my mother owed £14482.89 and I was to pay the debt. This is the first time I have heard from the home since she died 5 years ago, I rang them and told them that there was no money and that she was responsible for her own bills. I have today received another letter asking me to pay the debt or they will take further action, can you offer any advice as I don’t have that sort of money and why did they not give us a final itemised bill when she died instead of waiting 5 years. Do they have any legal rights to take me to court and surely it should be all 3 of us if any. I have told them I didn’t have power of attorney and that this was not my debt, where do I legally stand with this?

AnotherJoe

Who was/were the executor(s)?

Flugelhorn

If there is a debt then this will have to be paid by the estate.

The normal course of events would be that someone would become executor or administrator of the estate (I see she had a will so someone must have been executor) and they would collect the assets together, advertise for debts and after a period of time distribute the remaining assets (after all debts to date having been paid).

If debts appear after this time then they will still have to come out of the estate with the beneficiaries paying.

I think I would want to have firm evidence of where this bill came from and how it was calculated, also get info from bank statements to indicate what she previously paid

Savvy_Sue

And did you put anything in the Gazette and / or the local paper inviting debtors to come forward?

elsien

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And did you put anything in the Gazette and / or the local paper inviting debtors to come forward?

Presumably when they collected mum's belongings and gave notice the home would have been told mum had died?

You need to start by getting the care home to give a full breakdown of the debt along with dates etc so you can check exactly what they were claiming against the payments made.
When you say you split the remaining money between you, how much was that?

Yorkshireman99

elsien wrote: »

Presumably when they collected mum's belongings and gave notice the home would have been told mum had died?

You need to start by getting the care home to give a full breakdown of the debt along with dates etc so you can check exactly what they were claiming against the payments made.
When you say you split the remaining money between you, how much was that?

I find it extraordinary that so much debt was built up. A VERY full investigation need to be made to establish if the alleged debt is actually due. Notices in the Gazette will protest the executors but does not protect beneficiaries from claims.

AnotherJoe

Thats not an extraordinary amount of debt. It could easily just be a couple of months worth.
However it is extraordinary they've waited 5 years.

I'd say "prove it" and wait.

Yorkshireman99

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Thats not an extraordinary amount of debt. It could easily just be a couple of months worth.
However it is extraordinary they've waited 5 years.

I'd say "prove it" and wait.

A head in the sand approach is seldom wise. The OP needs to be proactive in resolving matters.

AnotherJoe

Saying "prove it" is being proactive. No head in the sand.

Flugelhorn

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Saying "prove it" is being proactive. No head in the sand.

Just looking at the first post, the bill arrived "last year" so could be anytime between 4 and 16 months, they perhaps had better start looking into this.
Ridiculous length of time for a business to wait before sending bill - I am half expecting one from a home carers company for a few weeks care in December and was thinking that 4 months was rather slow... but 4 years????

Yorkshireman99

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Saying "prove it" is being proactive. No head in the sand.

Sorry but I disagree. Your post implied that the OP should just stonewall. The OP needs to do more than just say prove it. (S) he needs to discuss it with the home in a sensible manner.