Lease car

Sally_Fisher

Hi my Daughter's husband suddenly passed away, he had a lease car in his name and the car company has sent a letter saying she either has to continue paying the direct debit for the term and then buy it or exchange the car, ( quite a hefty outgoing) pay a very large sum of money to buy the car immediately! Or return it and still have to pay several thousands of pounds! Not sure if this is correct.

Yorkshireman99

Sally_Fisher wrote: »

Hi my Daughter's husband suddenly passed away, he had a lease car in his name and the car company has sent a letter saying she either has to continue paying the direct debit for the term and then buy it or exchange the car, ( quite a hefty outgoing) pay a very large sum of money to buy the car immediately! Or return it and still have to pay several thousands of pounds! Not sure if this is correct.

Assuming the bank have bben told the DD will be rejected. Any debt is that of the estate not the wife and she cnnot be forced to pay. Has the estate got sufficient funds to pay this and any other debts?

Keep_pedalling

If the payments are coming from a joint account they will not be automatically stopped once the bank has been informed of the death, they will need to be instructed to stop the payments.

If your son in law left a solvent estate then the debt will have to be paid. If not then the leasing company need to be informed the the estate is insolvent and that they need to collect the car. Whoever does this should make it clear that they are not administering the estate.

In the mean time no one should be using it.

Flugelhorn

I am sorry to hear of your son in law's death - good that you are able to help out with these sorts of things.

Suspect as others say that the money will have to be paid if the estate is solvent - maybe it is better to pay the lump sum and then sell the car immediately - you may lose less than if you return it and still have to pay more money to them.

Sally_Fisher

Thank you all just hope they will wait for it to go through probate!

Sea_Shell

Sorry for your loss. I'd be more worried in the short term of ensuring that the insurance is all in order, especially if your Daughter still needs use of the vehicle.

AFAIK, (and correct me if I'm wrong) the current insurance could be invalidated, and assuming your Daughter is the beneficiary of the estate (including the car), she'd now need to insure the car in her own name. Not sure how strict insurers would be on this in the circumstances.

I'd hope that a spouse/partner, if already named on the insurance, would not suddenly be uninsured, in these circumstances, as the "family" car might be their only means of transport, and the "technicalities of insurance" being last thing on their minds in a time of crisis.

Keep_pedalling

Sally_Fisher wrote: »

Thank you all just hope they will wait for it to go through probate!

Even if they do, it is likely to be a mistake leaving it that long, as costs are likely to build up.

The car is not part of his estate. If your daughter still wants to use the car then the payments need to be kept up, and both nsurence and tax need to be sorted. If not then she needs to tell the leasing company to remove the car and that all outstanding finance will be settled once probate has been granted.

Based on the fact that you have said this is going through probate, I am assuming the estate is solvent and the leasing company will eventually get paid.