Loan to friend

sixtyfoothigh

The first thing you need to ascertain is if you have a legitimate claim to money leant. A bank statement showing the money went out isn't enough. Do you have it in writing from the deceased (either by email or text or message) that they are accepting a loan off you for £600 and that they will repay it? If you don't then you sadly will need to drop this (even if morally they should repay, they don't legally have to).
It doesn't matter if the family have said "yes we'll repay you", because they could just now say that they've since taken advice and when they said they would repay you they thought you did have written confirmation of the debt. 

If you do have written confirmation to support you claiming the debt then as above you should send a letter to the executor of the estate stating "I understand you are administrating the estate, here is evidence of money owed, please can you give me an update of what's happening with the estate". Send it any known contact addresses addressed to "C/O executor of INSERT FRIENDS NAME estate". 

It sounds like your friend hasn't left much in their estate. If they were renting and in a position where they needed to borrow money for holiday spends, then it's likely they've left an insolvent estate. When someone dies the money and belongings need to be used to cover the cost of the estate before beneficiaries get anything. These costs go in this order:

• Secured creditors - Things like mortgages
• The funeral expenses 
• Testamentary expenses - things like legal costs e.g. if the executor needs to use a solicitor to wrap up the estate
• Preferred debts and Preferential debts - e.g. if the deceased had employees that are still owed wages
• Unsecured creditors - e.g. debts to local and central government. utility bills, bank loans, credit and store card debts.
• Interest due on unsecured loans.
• Deferred debts – an example would be an informal loan between family members.

Your money would fall into the last category - so you'd only get money once all the above people had been paid in full. The death in service money was likely not part of the estate, so only money in her bank account(s) and any property she owned (cars etc.) would count as part of the estate. Having just dealt with my mother in laws funeral I can tell you that funeral costs alone will often mean there is nothing left for the lower priority categories. If you think your friend is likely to have less than £4k in savings/possessions again you're probably best forgetting about this, because this could be why you've not heard.

If you're absolutely certain the estate did have enough to pay all it's debts and still leave money for the beneficiaries, and the executor doesn't respond to emails/letters, then your only option is legal action, and you'd have to get advice on whether the costs of that would likely exceed the £600 you're likely to get back.

elsien

Marcon said:

BaileyOllie said:

Soot2006 said:

The family don't owe you any money.

Calm, factual letter to the Executor of the estate, including evidence of the debt. It should then get paid off as part of winding up the estate.

I did that and ended up with the police on the phone accusing me of harrassment

That sounds very unlikely indeed. How do you know it was the police and not someone pretending to be a police officer?

All it takes is a complaint from the person - it's not as unlikely as it sounds.
A relative got a harassment notice for going round to his ex's house just once, because he needed to arrange the court agreed contact visits for their children and she wouldn't answer the phone or reply to emails. No previous history of abuse, harassment or anything else. Just a rather messy divorce. 
The issue is that they are very difficult to challenge if the police are over-zealous  - they're not a caution so you can't refuse it and there isn't a formal appeal process bar making a complaint - but they can stay on record. 

BaileyOllie

I would so love to ask for a copy of the complaint against me,  I am not sure if you are allowed to see it mind.....

sixtyfoothigh

You won't be allowed to see the complaint. And you need to tread carefully as if you continue to informally contact the family then it could be deemed harassment. The only remedy would be the legal route i.e. suing the executor for not properly closing up the estate, or suing any beneficiaries because they'd received money that should have been paid out to creditors.

Can you answer me this question - how much money do you think was in your friends estate? (Don't count the death in services benefit - but how much would you think likely she had in her bank accounts and saving accounts, and did she own an expensive car?)

elsien

BaileyOllie said:

I would so love to ask for a copy of the complaint against me,  I am not sure if you are allowed to see it mind.....

It sounds like you were getting the pre-warning warning, as it were. The harassment notice is a written one. 

You could try a Subject Access Request. 

BaileyOllie

sixtyfoothigh said:

You won't be allowed to see the complaint. And you need to tread carefully as if you continue to informally contact the family then it could be deemed harassment. The only remedy would be the legal route i.e. suing the executor for not properly closing up the estate, or suing any beneficiaries because they'd received money that should have been paid out to creditors.

Can you answer me this question - how much money do you think was in your friends estate? (Don't count the death in services benefit - but how much would you think likely she had in her bank accounts and saving accounts, and did she own an expensive car?)

No she didn't drive or own a car... I don't really know how much was in her accounts,  there was no formal notice issued saying who to contact etc and she was single...I know her funeral costs where paid for by the employer as a good will gesture.

sixtyfoothigh

It sounds very likely that she's left an insolvent estate then. She didn't own property or a car - which are usually two of the items that bring money into the estate. She had to borrow £600 off you and hadn't been able to pay it back. Say she had £2000 left in her bank account on her death her estate would likely have to pay the following out of that:
- house clearance
- rent on the property up until the landlord agrees to end the contract
- outstanding council tax
- utility bill balances
- any other debts she had (credit card etc.)
(All of the above would need to be paid before you got anything).

It could be that her son realised after he originally said to you "you'll get your money back" that it was insolvent and has decided not to administer the estate - in which case there isn't an executor/personal representative for you to contact, as her estate is just going to get left. Maybe her son just doesn't have the guts to admit the situ to you or afraid at backlash because he knows you know he's had death is service payment (which legally you probably won't have a claim to and he's worried you'll be angry at that).

We were in a similar position with my MiL. We received a direct insurance payment to my husband that wasn't part of the estate. And she had around £400 in her account and several thousand worth of debt. We wrote to all her creditors to say "it's likely insolvent and no-one is administering" and gave them to the option of administering themselves. I don't think you'd have that option due to the nature of the loan (but even if you did it wouldn't be recommended as you'd be administering an estate which would cost you time and money, for likely no real gain as it doesn't look like the £600 is there for you to have back). I did feel a bit bad that we got to keep the insurance pay out (which mostly went on the funeral), but legally if somethings not part of the estate you don't have to use it for debts.

Sea_Shell

I know there's nowt so strange as families...but it reads like the son might have benefited from the Death in Service, whilst allowing her employer to pay for her funeral?

sixtyfoothigh

And if the death in service was not part of the estate, then it's really unfair on the OP, but legally not much they can do.

BaileyOllie

I just think I am now going to have to forget it and write it off....I am gutted thou,  left a sour taste in my mouth that her son could be so gutless to just admit the truth and  say it's insolvent. At the time of her death,  her Manager spoke to the family as it was so sensitive and advised them all (Brothers/Sisters/ Mum and Dad and Sons).  They assured him it would be dealt with,  I waited months and months after before even bringing the matter up with the son out of respect for their loss,  more fool me.   I think he only went to police so that I would drop it about getting the cash back.  Thanks to you all for reading and replying to me,  I don't feel quite as bad knowing that you have all been supportive.