Asset of the estate - or not...

TheGardener

Just so I have this right in my own mind:

• There is no need for an inheritance tax or probate form to be completed 
• Dad can sell the bike and deduct the costs of the funeral
• IF the Trustees agree to a payment to Dad based on the DIS form - it will not be classed as part of the lad's estate. 
• Any other debts (Klarna, credit card etc) Dad should inform them his son is deceased and there are no assets (will they want proof of that?) He'll have to tell them something or they will send letters/debt collectors etc 

Mojisola

TheGardener said:

• Any other debts (Klarna, credit card etc) Dad should inform them his son is deceased and there are no assets (will they want proof of that?) He'll have to tell them something or they will send letters/debt collectors etc 

Send a copy of the death certificate and a note to say that the estate is insolvent.    
It can be done anonymously to prevent debtors chasing the family for money. 

Keep_pedalling

TheGardener said:

Just so I have this right in my own mind:

• Any other debts (Klarna, credit card etc) Dad should inform them his son is deceased and there are no assets (will they want proof of that?) He'll have to tell them something or they will send letters/debt collectors etc 

He simply states that he is deceased, that the estate is insolvent and that there is no one administering the estate. That should be the end of it. 

Sea_Shell

I'm not sure how he'd be expected to "prove" a negative (ie there are no funds), so I very much doubt he'd be asked for that.

Even a bank statement showing nil balance isn't "proof" that there is no money, anywhere else.

Marcon

TheGardener said:

Just so I have this right in my own mind:

• There is no need for an inheritance tax or probate form to be completed 
• Dad can sell the bike and deduct the costs of the funeral
• IF the Trustees agree to a payment to Dad based on the DIS form - it will not be classed as part of the lad's estate. 
• Any other debts (Klarna, credit card etc) Dad should inform them his son is deceased and there are no assets (will they want proof of that?) He'll have to tell them something or they will send letters/debt collectors etc 

Dad needs to inform them the estate is insolvent and nobody is administering it. That's the crucial bit. It will probably make him feel awful, and any unscrupulous creditors could well play on his emotions, but the alternative ('getting involved') won't achieve anything useful and certainly won't help his dear, dead son. If chaser letters do arrive, he should simply bin them. 

TheGardener

Thank you all so much for your help and support  - it has been incredibly helpful and reassuring. xx 

doodling

Hi,

I think selling the bike would be intermeddling and therefore Dad will be administering the estate, once he starts administering then unfortunately there is no way out from it.

The ideal situation would be that either the bike sells for less than the funeral costs, in which case the estate is insolvent and there are no assets in the estate, or that the bike sells for enough to pay off all the creditors.  If the value of the bike is such that there is some cash left over before any creditors are paid then I think that Dad is stuck with trying to distribute that correctly across the creditors.  Whatever happens, selling the bike means that you cannot claim that no-one is administering the estate.

Administering the estate and being able to say that the value of assets was less than the cost of the funeral is the next best thing to not administering the estate.  It does mean that you'd need to write to creditors informing them of that fact rather than just ignoring them though.

If the funeral costs don't exceed the amount the bike could be sold for then there may be a decision to be made between the benefit of the bike sale paying for the funeral vs. the hassle in having to administer the estate.

Apologies that this is a slightly less clear cut view than others, but until the approximate value of the bike is known in comparison to the approximate cost of a funeral, I think I would hold off selling the bike.

The Death in Service payment should be completely separate to any of the above and won't be affected by what happens with the bike.

Edited to add.  Whatever happens, there won't be the need for probate or IHT forms.