Phillips & Cohen Chasing debt of deceased relative

johnrt

Hello,
Hope you can help.


My mother in law passed away in August, she left no estate of any kind in terms of cash in bank accounts, saving or possesions. The only asset connceted to her is she owned the family home with my father in law jointly. She left no will.



We have received a debt collection letter from Phillips & Cohen chasing a debt of £80 apparently owed to Shopdirect.


As there is no estate or will there is no executor or administrator, I don't beleive my father in law has taken any steps to have the deeds of the house changed in to just his name.


Could anyone offer any advice on how to deal with these debt collectors?


Thank you

Keep_pedalling

If her estate is truly insolvent then it is best to sent a letter stating that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it.

Do you know if the home was owned as joint tenants or tenants in common? If the latter the estate is not insolvent.

johnrt

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

If her estate is truly insolvent then it is best to sent a letter stating that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it.

Do you know if the home was owned as joint tenants or tenants in common? If the latter the estate is not insolvent.

Thank you for your help,

We downloaded the title documents of their house a little while ago for another matter, and under section B of Proprietorship Register there are no listed registered restrictions against the proprietors names which affect disposal; meaning they are joint tenants (I believe).

Speedster2

Surely they’re just chancing it? The debt could probably easily be settled by your FIL, which is what the creditor wants I guess. Did your FIL benefit from the item that the credit was used to purchase? Perhaps he’d like to pay his wife’s alleged debt and not be hassled over a fairly trivial amount.
Who’s the “we” that received the letter? Why were you contacted?
I doubt the MIL estate is insolvent, surely if they were still married then her property defaults to being inherited by her husband. Her estate consists of at least a dwelling which he has now inherited her share of.

johnrt

Speedster2 wrote: »

Surely they’re just chancing it? The debt could probably easily be settled by your FIL, which is what the creditor wants I guess. Did your FIL benefit from the item that the credit was used to purchase? Perhaps he’d like to pay his wife’s alleged debt and not be hassled over a fairly trivial amount.
Who’s the “we” that received the letter? Why were you contacted?
I doubt the MIL estate is insolvent, surely if they were still married then her property defaults to being inherited by her husband. Her estate consists of at least a dwelling which he has now inherited her share of.

We have no idea what she bought on the account, and nobody knew she even had an account with Shopdirect.


The letter was addresses to "The Executor of the Estate of the late ......." and sent to their address. He passed on the letter to us as he doesn't know what to do.


My father in law is a pensioner had has only his state pension as income, so £80 is a lot of money for him.


My understanding is as above, as joint tenant her share passes to her husband on her death as there was no will; so does not form a part of an estate that an usecured debt can be claimed on.

Linton

Speedster2 wrote: »

Surely they’re just chancing it? The debt could probably easily be settled by your FIL, which is what the creditor wants I guess. Did your FIL benefit from the item that the credit was used to purchase? Perhaps he’d like to pay his wife’s alleged debt and not be hassled over a fairly trivial amount.
Who’s the “we” that received the letter? Why were you contacted?
I doubt the MIL estate is insolvent, surely if they were still married then her property defaults to being inherited by her husband. Her estate consists of at least a dwelling which he has now inherited her share of.

No, jointly owned property is outside the estate and so cannot be used to pay the estate's debts. FIL hasn't inherited the property, he owns it as the survivor of the joint ownership. However a quick Google suggests that under very rare circumstances the courts could overrule this, but I cant see this happening for £80 even if the right circumstances applied.


Of course if there is no-one administering the estate, the debt collectors could apply to the courts for themselves to become the administrator. However for £80......

katiepoppycat

Give them a call - I had to deal with Philips and Cohen regarding my late mothers credit card and they were polite and respectful when i spoke to them and they promptly sent a follow up letter to confirm that they were writing off the debt. Standard letters often have an edge to them that isn't very nice.

getmore4less

Very rare for absolutely no personal assets but often low/no value.

My experience with Philips and Coen was a BG account.

When phoned they were honest and not chasing.

I think they take on debts to allow them to contact in the hope of getting to admin estates rather than hard core debt collectors.

FreeBear

johnrt wrote: »

We have no idea what she bought on the account, and nobody knew she even had an account with Shopdirect.

First step would be to ask them to "prove it" and supply a signed (credit) agreement along with a statement showing purchases and all additional charges. Advise them that the estate is insolvent, and let them make the next move.

-taff

As above. Send the prove it letter and see what comes back. If the house was owned as tenants in common, the estate is not insolvent.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

Keep_pedalling

-taff wrote: »

As above. Send the prove it letter and see what comes back. If the house was owned as tenants in common, the estate is not insolvent.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

I would only bother doing that with a solvent estate. P&C are a reasonable company to deal with and will not hound the OPs father once they know the estate is insolvent. Asking for proof will just generate more unwanted correspondence at a difficult time.