Mother in laws estate

mrschaucer

Many insurance policies are written "in trust" and do not form part of the deceased's estate when paid to the appropriate beneficiary, so don't feel bad about it.  The money never "belonged" to the deceased so there is no reason for it to be used for debts, and you are acting perfectly properly.  Suggest you ask the insurance company specifically if the policy was indeed written in trust.

sixtyfoothigh

Thanks. They said to ring back once we had the death certificate, so we'll ask then.

We went back to her property yesterday with an estate car, so we could take most stuff to the dump. Two trips - 10 sacks for the fabric bins, and another 6 of random knick-knacks/junk. The flat was a disaster of clutter and junk. I cried at the dump as it's so sad that some's life can be packed up and be gone like that. We've walked away with a couple of boxes of photographs and a the limited paperwork we could glean from the mess. We've moved the scooter for security. The only thing left in there now is a very stained bed and armchair (she was bed/chair bound for the last 6 months), another armchair and sofa in ok condition (but smelling of cigarettes), a small table and two wardrobes. We've taken photos and put on a local charity site (not of the stained ones, obviously). If we can't find anyone who wants them we'll have to let the council know we've cleared to the best of our ability. 

She did have two letters. One from the council as obviously she's not paid the rent over the Christmas period - but they'd warned me on the phone she'd probably get letters for a few days as I rang them on the 4th Jan (and this was dated 29th Dec). But she did have another letter from Provident saying she owed them £300 and they'd not been able to contact her last month. So it looks like, as I feared, she did have some doorstep loans (though if this is the only one, then that's not too terrifying).

Depending on the answer from insurance, if it is direct to him, we'll be walking away from the estate. I'll create a new email account and email Provident without any of my contact details to say she's passed and no one is handling the estate. 

I know that her creditors could chose to administer the estate (though for a share of £400, who would!!!!), but in theory if they wanted to how would they know to contact me/her son, in order to get her paperwork/scooter. Is it worth putting a forward on her home address to continue getting mail, or is it better to walk away completely and make them find us. Should we keep the scooter/paperwork in a shed for 6 years on the off chance - or sell the scooter and keep the money to one side?

Thanks again everyone. Being able to talk about all this on here has been a massive help - especially as my husband is still understandably quite upset.