Survivorship and debts of deceased - Scots law

Andysaint

Hi.

Sadly my mother recently passed away, and my dad has discovered she had a lot of unsecured debts. All are credit cards and loans.

There is not enough money from her own bank account and savings to clear her debts.

The house is mortgage free and both names on title deeds. The proprietorship section states 'equally between them and the survivor of them'

My dad is worried her debts will now have to be paid for out of the house equity, despite thinking he now fully owns the house?

Any advice if debts can be claimed from the house value now?

We are based in Scotland, so unsure if this might be different from other countries.

buddy9

My understanding is that a creditor can seek to recover a debt from any part of an estate (in Scotland), including those parts that pass by survivorship.

Andysaint

Thanks buddy9. I thought this might be the case.

user1977

I would agree with the above, though unless any individual creditor is owed a significant amount (over whatever you are able to pay them from liquid assets) I'm not sure they would go to the trouble of pursuing it.

GhibliFan

Even unsecured debt?  I never knew that. Would it be worth writing to the CC companies and asking them to write off the debt?  

OP, sorry you lost your Mum 💐😢

Andysaint

user1977 said:

I would agree with the above, though unless any individual creditor is owed a significant amount (over whatever you are able to pay them from liquid assets) I'm not sure they would go to the trouble of pursuing it.

The liquid assets are approx £5,000 after the funeral has been paid and the debts equal around £20,000. Two of the debts are for very old CCs that have been sold to debt collection firms. They are £6.5k and £8.5k respectively.

As you say maybe they wouldn't pursue for these amounts?

Andysaint

GhibliFan said:

Even unsecured debt?  I never knew that. Would it be worth writing to the CC companies and asking them to write off the debt?  

OP, sorry you lost your Mum 💐😢

Thanks GhibliFan.

Yeah I wasn't sure if unsecured debts like this could be claimed or not. 

If I contact them would they only need proof off how much money is left, or do you think they would ask about probate / confirmation?  ... as they prob don't even know if she was a homeowner or not.

Do you know if I can negotiate a settlement figure with these companies?

sheramber

check here

https://www.scotlanddebt.co.uk/articles/personal-debt/do-personal-debts-die-with-you#:~:text=When you die, your debts,family unless they were guarantors.

RAS

Do also have a chat on the Debt free wannabe forum here. Very old debts may not have the required paperwork to permit legal action to chase. You need to mention Scotland in your thread title.

Has mum been paying these debts off? If there's been a period of 5 years when she's not paid or acknowledge the debts, they may well be unenforceable. In Scotland the debt ceases to exist, in England it's just unenforceable.