Phillips and Cohen Associates asking for money after my husband died

claudibee

Hello everybody. My husband died last September and I had a letter from Phillips and Cohen Associates saying that there was an outstanding amount owing on his Barclaycard. They new that there were some funds that had been transferred from my husbands Nationwide account into my  Nationwide account and now they are trying to collect the outstanding balance. I need the money that was transferred to live on. I am 62 and I don't work due to ill health and have a very small income. It's not that I don't want to pay my husband's outstanding balance but how do they know my circumstances and whether I can really afford to pay this amount? I don't know anything about them but I need to know whether I can trust them. I would genuinely appreciate any information that you could give me. Thank you and kind regards, Claudine

HillStreetBlues

This isn't the best forum to ask your question, hopefully a mod can  move it to the correct one.

Caz3121

condolences. You may be better posting on this board https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/deaths-funerals-probate
Was there an executor? My understanding is that debts would be due to be paid from the estate before any remaining funds were distributed/moved. (Assuming that the bank account was in his sole name and not joint names) 

sourcrates

If your husband left an estate, then any outstanding debts should be paid from that estate.

If the estate is not sufficient to cover all outstanding debt, then the debts are paid in priority order.

Unsecured credit is last on the list for payment, and if funds do not stretch that far, then they remain unpaid and die with him.

The debts, assuming they were in his name alone, cannot be attributed to anyone else, liability cannot be passed to you.

Normally the executor of the estate would deal with such things.

So basically if the funds to pay the debts are not there, write and tell them so.

claudibee

HillStreetBlues said:

This isn't the best forum to ask your question, hopefully a mod can  move it to the correct one.

Thank you very much for that.

claudibee

Thank you for your reply. The credit card was in my husband's name alone. I am the executor of his will and I was the recipient of his estate. There was some money from a sole account that was transferred into our joint account which is now mine. Nothing was paid out to Phillips and Cohen, I just received a letter from them saying that his sole Barclaycard had an outstanding amount to be paid.

eskbanker

claudibee said:

They new that there were some funds that had been transferred from my husbands Nationwide account into my  Nationwide account and now they are trying to collect the outstanding balance. I need the money that was transferred to live on. I am 62 and I don't work due to ill health and have a very small income. It's not that I don't want to pay my husband's outstanding balance but how do they know my circumstances and whether I can really afford to pay this amount?

Unfortunately the money isn't yours if it's needed to repay debt, so they won't be particularly interested in your circumstances - sorry if that sounds harsh but best to understand where you stand legally here....

Edit: just seen your response posted while I was typing - your duty as executor is to settle his debts from his money before distributing any residual funds.

claudibee

eskbanker said:

claudibee said:

They new that there were some funds that had been transferred from my husbands Nationwide account into my  Nationwide account and now they are trying to collect the outstanding balance. I need the money that was transferred to live on. I am 62 and I don't work due to ill health and have a very small income. It's not that I don't want to pay my husband's outstanding balance but how do they know my circumstances and whether I can really afford to pay this amount?

Unfortunately the money isn't yours if it's needed to repay debt, so they won't be particularly interested in your circumstances - sorry if that sounds harsh but best to understand where you stand legally here....

Edit: just seen your response posted while I was typing - your duty as executor is to settle his debts from his money before distributing any residual funds.

Thank you for  your response.

claudibee

eskbanker said:

claudibee said:

They new that there were some funds that had been transferred from my husbands Nationwide account into my  Nationwide account and now they are trying to collect the outstanding balance. I need the money that was transferred to live on. I am 62 and I don't work due to ill health and have a very small income. It's not that I don't want to pay my husband's outstanding balance but how do they know my circumstances and whether I can really afford to pay this amount?

Unfortunately the money isn't yours if it's needed to repay debt, so they won't be particularly interested in your circumstances - sorry if that sounds harsh but best to understand where you stand legally here....

Edit: just seen your response posted while I was typing - your duty as executor is to settle his debts from his money before distributing any residual funds.

Thank you for  your response.

msb1234

Did you notify Barclaycard of his death? At that point, they should have talked about the debt being repaid. They have passed the debt onto P+C as this is a firm that deals with debts after death. Is it a considerable sum?
As others have said, you will be expected to use the money from your husband’s bank account to pay this debt. It may be useful to ring them up and discuss a possible payment plan. 

Mojisola

claudibee said:

There was some money from a sole account that was transferred into our joint account which is now mine.

Was this transferred before or after his death?

Have you made sure that you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to?