Estate of rta victim.

jeanmd

I'm trying to help a friend whose son passed away today following a collision. The driver admitted fault as they didn't see his bike behind a car and pulled out. I'm going around first thing tomorrow and could do with some facts.

My friend has no idea about insurance etc. and I've tried to do a lot of reading, but I'm struggling.

Her son didn't leave a will, has no family apart from her, lived on his own in rented accomodation, has no savings and no real debt apart from bills.

I've read that she doesn't need probate as the estate is under £5k, but will need a letter of administration.

The part I'm struggling with is that there will be an insurance payout by the drivers insurance (son was only third party so not sure yet what help she'll get from his insurance). Will this payout be part of his estate or be paid to her?
If it's paid to his estate that would higher the value of the estate, but as we have no idea how much this would be we don't know what forms would be needed.

Mainly, as above:- who does the payment go to.
How does she arrange the funeral payment as I've read that will be covered by the drivers insurance. Unfortunately, she is disabled and unable to work so on a low income and is very worried how she is going to be able to bury him.
Would she be better getting a solicitor to work with the insurance company?
Thanks.

Yorkshireman99

jeanmd wrote: »

I'm trying to help a friend whose 23 year old son passed away today following a collision. The driver admitted fault as they didn't see his bike behind a car and pulled out. I'm going around first thing tomorrow and could do with some facts.

My friend has no idea about insurance etc. and I've tried to do a lot of reading, but I'm struggling.

Her son didn't leave a will, has no family apart from her, lived on his own in rented accomodation, has no savings and no real debt apart from bills.

I've read that she doesn't need probate as the estate is under £5k, but will need a letter of administration.

The part I'm struggling with is that there will be an insurance payout by the drivers insurance (son was only third party so not sure yet what help she'll get from his insurance). Will this payout be part of his estate or be paid to her?
If it's paid to his estate that would higher the value of the estate, but as we have no idea how much this would be we don't know what forms would be needed.

Mainly, as above:- who does the payment go to.
How does she arrange the funeral payment as I've read that will be covered by the drivers insurance. Unfortunately, she is disabled and unable to work so on a low income and is very worried how she is going to be able to bury him.
Would she be better getting a solicitor to work with the insurance company?
Thanks.

She does not need to pay. The hospital where he died or the local council will pay for a basic funeral. She should not arrange a funeral otherwise she will have to pay for it. Any money will belong to her. She should not need probate or a solicitor. Keep calm and ask for any questions you have,

nom_de_plume

You friend needs to be a little bit cautious of getting too involved in winding up her son's estate at this stage. It sounds on the face of it as if it could be insolvent as there are bills and possibly an early termination fee on the rental property. Was it a private rent or council?


If the driver's insurance is going to pay, she would likely be best placed to get that confirmed in writing and for them to agree to settle the bill direct and to confirm a budget.

-taff

The blls can be setled when the insurance pays out [unless they are particularly large bills] if they are run of the mill utility and council tax etc.
The council will bury her son if she can't pay for it, get in touch either with the local council or local hospital
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/help-paying-for-a-funeral#what-happens-if-you-cant-afford-a-funeral
He died intestate so intestacy rules apply, so his estate will go to his mother if his father is alive he would get half]

Keep_pedalling

As the estate has no assets that require letters of administration she does not need to worry about letters of administration, even if he had more than £5000 it still would not be required unless it was tied up in things like shares.

As the deceased only had 3rd party insurence his insurence company are not going to help with any claim against the other driver, so it might be worth posting over on the Insurence board to get advice on how to proceed with a claim.

Mojisola

jeanmd wrote: »

I've read that she doesn't need probate as the estate is under £5k, but will need a letter of administration.

If there is a will, then the executors get probate.

If there isn't a will, a letter of administration will be required if the estate is large enough to need it.

In this case, it doesn't sound as if that's the case.

silvercar

Mojisola wrote: »

If there is a will, then the executors get probate.

If there isn't a will, a letter of administration will be required if the estate is large enough to need it.

In this case, it doesn't sound as if that's the case.

You don’t know the size of the estate until any claim on the other driver’s insurance is settled. A young person’s estate could be entitled to a large sum.

Sorry for your friend’s loss.

Keep_pedalling

silvercar wrote: »

You don’t know the size of the estate until any claim on the other driver’s insurance is settled. A young person’s estate could be entitled to a large sum.

Sorry for your friend’s loss.

I am willing to be corrected on this, but where someone is killed compensation is paid to the victim’s family for the financial loss the death has caused and as such should not form part of the victim’s estate. If the victim had a spouse or children to support this would certainly be the case.

Keep_pedalling

The victim’s mother is going to need some legal assistance here, is she a member of a union or does she have legal assistance included in her home insurance?

PasturesNew

On a side note, re the rented flat, notice needs to be given on that, to reduce the son's liabilities. There might be a chance to end it early, if possible, or at least just stop it going on longer than is necessary. This is important because it'd be a shame if all the compensation money were to simply disappear to the landlord for "unpaid rent".

There will be a "debt on the estate" from the landlord, for rent during the notice period/to the end of the AST/until the earliest date the landlord releases him from the agreement (not sure if a Frustration of Contract on the part of the deceased, as a phrase to be bandied about, could "encourage" the landlord to end it ASAP), but it'd be daft to just let it all drag on, only for the landlord to dip his sticky paws into any "pot" heading in the mother's direction

jeanmd

Thank you all for your comments. So far she now knows that:-

Insurance. Even though he was only third party the insurance company have instructed a solicitor to sort out the claim as he wasn't at fault. Any money that is paid out will go to her and they should cover the funeral. She is still waiting for confirmation on all this when the solicitor calls her.

The house is a private rent that she had when he was a young child and he took over when she moved away. She is going to move back into the house as she has family and friends close by. She has a very good relationship with the landlord and it was a rolling contract with just a months notice so not a problem.

She won't need the letter of administration unless the bank insists on it. She has to wait for the death certificate as the coroner is involved so is leaving the bank atm.

She is really not in a good place today and talking on the phone was hard for her, so bills etc. will wait a couple of days as bills will just run on as they are.

Your comments were helpful as I've been able to drop in and then check up some of the things being said.