Parent's liable for deceased son's debt.

UselessMeatball

Morning, afternoon, evening all!

I'm not sure if this is exactly the right place this needs to be but any advice would be appreciated.

My mother received a letter today concerning a credit agreement by o2 with a start date in 2012 but with a "period covered" from 13-4-19 to 29-4-19. My brother (who's name the letter is addressed to and presumably the bearer of the agreement) died in March 2018 so we're all unaware of what exactly this payment is for.

The letter is from Lowell Financial LTD. and when I've called to inform them they say it needs to be passed on to another company who deal with these files.

My main concern is that the amount they're asking for is around £700 and the last thing I need is for my parent's to have to foot this bill they had no idea was needing paid.

He did leave a girlfriend to which he had children too but we have had little to no contact with her due to various personal reasons and one of my worries is that she has been using the phone and not paying the bills, a habit which was a problem even when he was alive. Though I have no evidence to prove this.

Has anyone got any ideas or thoughts going forward? Any help would be appreciated and I'll try to answer questions if necessary.

Thanks in advance!

[Deleted User]

His parents aren't liable. His estate is, so they don't need to pay it from their own funds.

Who is administering the estate - and what stage is it at?

You can probably close this off with a simple letter if there are no funds or the estate has now been wound up, and creditors given the opportunity to make any claims.

UselessMeatball

As far as I'm aware the estate has been settled. This is the first letter like this we've had.

[Deleted User]

Just write back to them telling them that.

They'll probably just write it off, given the circumstances.

UselessMeatball

Deleted_User wrote: »

Just write back to them telling them that.

They'll probably just write it off, given the circumstances.

Thanks for the help and quick reply!

PaulW922

They may want some kind of proof. It may sound a bit thoughtless but I guess anyone could claim the debtor had died (and some people would too..)

bris

Who was the administrator of the estate? They have a tough job that includes finding debtors and by putting an ad in the local gazette seems to be the way to do this.


If there was assets in the estate and the correct procedures were not followed when paying out the estate then the administrator can become personally liable.

Ben8282

The parents are NOT liable for this debt and do not need to worry.
While the estate is potentially liable, there are a number of questions which need to be answered. First of all, when was the default date? Was the debt already statute barred at the time of death? Why has nobody previously been chasing this debt? Could the administrator of the estate have reasonably known about this debt? Was there sufficient money in the estate to pay this debt or did his debts already exceed the value of anything he left? Was anything actually left over after funeral expenses etc?

glennstar

Given the pain related to dealing with this I suggest the bin is the best place for it. O2 can report the default, for what it's worth.

molerat

glennstar wrote: »

Given the pain related to dealing with this I suggest the bin is the best place for it.

Which is probably a sure fire way of making the pain worse when more letters arrive and debt collectors come knocking on the door. One simple letter will likely put an end to it.