Debt - Philips and Cohen 16 January at 12:14PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 20 replies 1.2K views

AttractingMoreMoney

Hello,

I've been recently contacted by a catalogue company to say I'll be contacted by a company called Philips and Cohen about my mum's debts.  Just less than £2000.

The money my mum had went on paying off a bank loan and paying for her funeral. There is no money left. I am due to receive a small lump sum from her pension, but it's my understanding it shouldn't rightfully be used to pay off debts.

My mum's house, which I already live in and is my home not just an inheritance asset, is the only asset and it's currently going through probate.

If there is no money and I live in the property already, can Philip and Cohen still claim the debt from me?
Basically, am I going to be forced to use the death benefit lump sum to pay it off?

user1977

If the estate has sufficient assets (which include the house) to repay her debts, then as an executor you ought to be repaying all of them in full. The fact the assets aren't (yet) cash doesn't make a difference.

fatbelly

Why did you prioritise the bank loan?

You are not personally liable but as an executor you have a responsibility to treat all creditors equally

P&C could create problems here. Whether they would or not remains to be seen. 

AttractingMoreMoney

fatbelly said:

Why did you prioritise the bank loan?

You are not personally liable but as an executor you have a responsibility to treat all creditors equally

P&C could create problems here. Whether they would or not remains to be seen. 

This was because when the bank closed the account they took the loan amount out before transferring the rest to pay the funeral costs.

Just to clarify, the loan was with the same bank as the account.

born_again

AttractingMoreMoney said:

Hello,

I've been recently contacted by a catalogue company to say I'll be contacted by a company called Philips and Cohen about my mum's debts.  Just less than £2000.

The money my mum had went on paying off a bank loan and paying for her funeral. There is no money left. I am due to receive a small lump sum from her pension, but it's my understanding it shouldn't rightfully be used to pay off debts.

My mum's house, which I already live in and is my home not just an inheritance asset, is the only asset and it's currently going through probate.

If there is no money and I live in the property already, can Philip and Cohen still claim the debt from me?
Basically, am I going to be forced to use the death benefit lump sum to pay it off?

Who actually owned the house?

AttractingMoreMoney

user1977 said:

If the estate has sufficient assets (which include the house) to repay her debts, then as an executor you ought to be repaying all of them in full. The fact the assets aren't (yet) cash doesn't make a difference.

I thought this would be the case, though I've lived in this house for a long time. It was my grandfather's before it became my mum's. There's no way I'd sell it just to pay a debt and then leave myself homeless. I guess it'll have to come out of the pension lump sum.

AttractingMoreMoney

born_again said:

AttractingMoreMoney said:

Hello,

I've been recently contacted by a catalogue company to say I'll be contacted by a company called Philips and Cohen about my mum's debts.  Just less than £2000.

The money my mum had went on paying off a bank loan and paying for her funeral. There is no money left. I am due to receive a small lump sum from her pension, but it's my understanding it shouldn't rightfully be used to pay off debts.

My mum's house, which I already live in and is my home not just an inheritance asset, is the only asset and it's currently going through probate.

If there is no money and I live in the property already, can Philip and Cohen still claim the debt from me?
Basically, am I going to be forced to use the death benefit lump sum to pay it off?

Who actually owned the house?

My mum owned it. She wanted to transfer ownership to me when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I said no, but I wish I had now. It's currently going through probate to be put into my name.

born_again

AttractingMoreMoney said:

user1977 said:

If the estate has sufficient assets (which include the house) to repay her debts, then as an executor you ought to be repaying all of them in full. The fact the assets aren't (yet) cash doesn't make a difference.

I thought this would be the case, though I've lived in this house for a long time. It was my grandfather's before it became my mum's. There's no way I'd sell it just to pay a debt and then leave myself homeless. I guess it'll have to come out of the pension lump sum.

Or you take out a loan/mortgage to cover it.

Bit like my situation. Although there were no debts, the will dictated that daughter got a % of the estate. Only way to do this, as we all wanted to move into the house. Was to take out a mortgage to cover the shortfall.

AttractingMoreMoney

born_again said:

AttractingMoreMoney said:

user1977 said:

If the estate has sufficient assets (which include the house) to repay her debts, then as an executor you ought to be repaying all of them in full. The fact the assets aren't (yet) cash doesn't make a difference.

I thought this would be the case, though I've lived in this house for a long time. It was my grandfather's before it became my mum's. There's no way I'd sell it just to pay a debt and then leave myself homeless. I guess it'll have to come out of the pension lump sum.

Or you take out a loan/mortgage to cover it.

Bit like my situation. Although there were no debts, the will dictated that daughter got a % of the estate. Only way to do this, as we all wanted to move into the house. Was to take out a mortgage to cover the shortfall.

I find this all depressing to be honest. I just look forward to finally getting everything settled so I can grieve properly and my mum can stop being hounded for money even though she's passed on. 

DE_612183

It's not a nice situation - my brother had lots of little debts and these all had to be settled.

I had to take money out of my savings to pay off some of them, so I could hang on to the property.

Even if your mum had "signed" over the property I still think it would be part of the estate unless it was years ago ( 7 I think ).

Best thing to do is get it sorted asap, grieve and then hopefully move on.

AttractingMoreMoney

DE_612183 said:

It's not a nice situation - my brother had lots of little debts and these all had to be settled.

I had to take money out of my savings to pay off some of them, so I could hang on to the property.

Even if your mum had "signed" over the property I still think it would be part of the estate unless it was years ago ( 7 I think ).

Best thing to do is get it sorted asap, grieve and then hopefully move on.

I didn't know that about the property still being counted as part of the estate for a few years even after being signed over. So it really wouldn't have made any difference. 

I'm very sorry for the loss of your brother.