Letter from Phillips & Cohen (DCA) demanding £7500 from late husband's Estate

subjunctive

Hello all,

A few days ago I received a letter from Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd. on behalf of Hoist (Finance) which amounts to a demand for payment of around £7500 to settle my late husband's Barclaycard debt (which Hoist appears to have purchased at some point). This letter came completely out of the blue and was totally unexpected. I was genuinely shocked to have received this letter some 2 years after my husband's death, and I don't know where I stand legally in terms of my personal liability in this matter. I certainly cannot afford to pay what Phillips & Cohen / Hoist are demanding, and I'm getting quite stressed over this.

My husband died in mid-2020. He did not leave a will, and he had a lot debt (now fully paid off - or so I had thought!), and apart from his share of the house we bought and in which I still live (we had a 25-year joint mortgage), he left very little in the way of assets (or what may be deemed to be assets). What little he left in assets have either been discarded (because perhaps faulty or of little or no value), or given away to relatives.

The letter from Phillips & Cohen was addressed to 'the Executor of the Estate' of my late husband, but if my understanding is correct, there is no Executor because he left no will, nor have I been appointed as the Administrator by any court (yet). So as things currently stand, and if I understand correctly, my late husband's Estate (such as it is) has no Executor and no official Administrator.

I should point out that the Phillips & Cohen letter states the following:  "It is important to understand that only the Estate of the Late ***** is liable for the balance outstanding and you are not required to use personal assets to pay the Estate's liabilities."

So where do they expect me to extract the money from?

I don't yet know what my husband's Barclaycard debt/balance was at the time of his death - it could have been a few hundred pounds, or a few thousand pounds.

I don't recall having had any contact with or from Barclaycard since my husband's death. They appear not to have made any attempt at all to contact me over the last 2 years.

Can anyone here please advise me on what I should do next?

Is it inevitable that I will somehow have to pay this debt (in whole or in part)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

kimwp

I'm not an expert in these matters, but I would think it would depend on how the house was owned between you - tenants in common or joint tenants (think those are the right phrases). Maybe on other things as well, such as whether it is statute barred, possibly there might be a limit on how long after the passing that a debt can be claimed, but these are guesses. I probably wouldn't contact them until you've received some advice.

sourcrates

Any unsecured credit debt, is regarded as a  "non priority debt".

It`s actually quite straightforward, if no assets remain to pay this debt, from your late husbands estate, then a simple letter to Phillips & Cohen stating that fact, should send them packing with their tail between their legs.

Neither you, nor anyone else, has any personal liability for this, or any other of his debt`s whatsoever, the debt was your late husbands, and his alone, debt does not transfer magically from person to person, ever, only the named debtor is liable.

They confirm this in this statement - 

"It is important to understand that only the Estate of the Late ***** is liable for the balance outstanding and you are not required to use personal assets to pay the Estate's liabilities."

So as no assets remain, they are out of luck.

Also your house is safe, so don`t worry about that, as they did not secure the debt under a CCJ via a charging order, whilst he was still alive, so they don`t have a leg to stand on.

They are reliant on your cooperation here, so just write back and tell them no assets remain, so this debt won`t be paid, and as far as you are concerned this matter is now closed.

Sea_Shell

Could there have been an element of "intermeddling" here though, if some debts have been paid off and others not?  Even if not in an "official" capacity of executor or administrator?

lisyloo

Was the house jointly owned?
has it been updated to your name alone?

who paid off his debts and why?

you are not liable for his debt.
write back and tell them there are no assets and you do not accept liability and are not the executor.