Responsibility for house insurance after death of the policy holder?

troubleinparadise

My Mother-in-Law has recently died.  My husband has been paying the house insurance bill for her for many years.  The house has been bequeathed to his sisters.  The sisters are the executors, and probate is being handled for them by solicitors as their choice.

A sister has been in touch with the Insurers to inform them of MIL’s death.  The Insurers have told her that they have transferred the policy into the names of “The Executors of Mrs X”.  The sister has told my husband that as the house will not be transferred into the sisters’ names until Probate has been granted, my husband has to continue paying the bill until then.

He thought that his responsibility for paying the insurance bill ended with her death, and would then be transferred to the Executors.
Can anyone put him right on this?  My husband is keen not to have any unnecessary conflict, naturally!

Dox

The sisters are trying it on. He has no further interest in the house, so he should contact the insurer and ask for a refund of the unused part of the policy - BUT give the sisters fair warning (a week is quite sufficient) that is what will happen. It is their responsibility as executors to arrange insurance and the premium comes out of the estate. Point out to them that your husband has no 'insurable interest' and thus 'cannot' pay the premium now they are executors.

Linton

The executors act in the place of the deceased until the assets have been distributed.  House insurance is the responsibility of the executors as part of their duty to ensure that the estate assets are safeguarded  for the beneficiaries,.The executors should use estate funds for this and they have no responsibility to pay for the insurance personally.

Presumably your husband was only paying for the insurance out of kindness, he had no responsibility to do so and could have stopped at any time.  If that is the case then he could choose to stop paying now that MiL has died or he could continue with his generosity.

Linton

Dox said:

The sisters are trying it on. He has no further interest in the house, so he should contact the insurer and ask for a refund of the unused part of the policy - BUT give the sisters fair warning (a week is quite sufficient) that is what will happen. It is their responsibility as executors to arrange insurance and the premium comes out of the estate. Point out to them that your husband has no 'insurable interest' and thus 'cannot' pay the premium now they are executors.

Surely the husband cannot ask for a refund as the insurance must, I assume, have been in the MiLs name. So it is only the MiL or her executors who can cancel it, The husband was effectively giving MiL the money to pay for the insurance.

You cant demand a gift back because the recipient has died and it would seem unlikely that the payment for the insurance was a loan.

Sea_Shell

Is he paying by monthly direct debit, from his account?

Whose name is the policy in?

Robin9

Has your husband been left out of the will ?

troubleinparadise

Dox said:

The sisters are trying it on. He has no further interest in the house, so he should contact the insurer and ask for a refund of the unused part of the policy - BUT give the sisters fair warning (a week is quite sufficient) that is what will happen. It is their responsibility as executors to arrange insurance and the premium comes out of the estate. Point out to them that your husband has no 'insurable interest' and thus 'cannot' pay the premium now they are executors.

He’s not wanting to push on a refund - the premium was being paid monthly as an annual premium.  But he was surprised to be told he still had to pay until Probate is sorted.

Flugelhorn

he definitely doesn't - the estate is now responsible 

troubleinparadise

Linton said:

The executors act in the place of the deceased until the assets have been distributed.  House insurance is the responsibility of the executors as part of their duty to ensure that the estate assets are safeguarded  for the beneficiaries,.The executors should use estate funds for this and they have no responsibility to pay for the insurance personally.

Presumably your husband was only paying for the insurance out of kindness, he had no responsibility to do so and could have stopped at any time.  If that is the case then he could choose to stop paying now that MiL has died or he could continue with his generosity.

That is what we had thought about the role of the Executors.
He had been paying it as a gift to his elderly mother to reduce her outgoings.

troubleinparadise

Sea_Shell said:

Is he paying by monthly direct debit, from his account?

Whose name is the policy in?

He has been paying the premium as a monthly direct debit from his account.
The policy was in his late mother’s name, but has now been changed to “The Executors of Mrs X”

troubleinparadise

Robin9 said:

Has your husband been left out of the will ?

He has been left out of his mother’s Will, as anticipated, as he had received a bequest in his father’s Will.  There is no animosity about his mother’s Will.