Death of sole director

ema4224

My father in law recently passed away, he was the sole director of his company, he worked as a car sprayer so no staff, business building etc the only asset is a Mercedes van he used to work from and changed into a camper van to live in. 

My husband is next of kin and is keen to keep the van as it feels personal to his dad. 

The company we believe owes roughly £5000 to different departments , corporate tax, vat, the bank etc. Can anyone tell me what our options are? 

I believe we can close the company and the van would go to the crown - how does this work would someone collect it from us? 

If so would they then sell it on, is it a possibility my husband could buy it off the crown?

would we be responsible to sell the van ? If so could my husband not just sell it to himself? 

Another option is my husband takes on the company and pays the debts himself and keeps the van but I’m worried more debt could potentially come to bite us later on. 

Anyone that’s been in this situation or can advise how this all works please.

thankyou 

Marcon

ema4224 said:

My father in law recently passed away, he was the sole director of his company, he worked as a car sprayer so no staff, business building etc the only asset is a Mercedes van he used to work from and changed into a camper van to live in. 

My husband is next of kin and is keen to keep the van as it feels personal to his dad. 

The company we believe owes roughly £5000 to different departments , corporate tax, vat, the bank etc. Can anyone tell me what our options are? 

I believe we can close the company and the van would go to the crown - how does this work would someone collect it from us? 

If so would they then sell it on, is it a possibility my husband could buy it off the crown?

would we be responsible to sell the van ? If so could my husband not just sell it to himself? 

Another option is my husband takes on the company and pays the debts himself and keeps the van but I’m worried more debt could potentially come to bite us later on. 

Anyone that’s been in this situation or can advise how this all works please.

thankyou 

Get some professional help. This is a common situation, but frequently entirely baffling to those encountering it for the first time - particularly when they have just been bereaved and are coping with the aftermath of that. Hopefully your FIL had an accountant who will be able to tell you exactly what the company's assets and liabilities are. 

Starting point is the company's articles of association (you can download free from Companies House website: https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company). The crown doesn't come into it unless the articles are very strange indeed!

p00hsticks

I'm not an expert but I think that it should be possible for your husband to just pay the company market value for the van. this would need to be done before the company is closed, and the money then distributed amongst the creditors - there may be a priority order for this so tread carefully. 

Then someone (?) would need to take steps to get the company struck off with Companies House .
Closing a limited company - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Assuming it is a limited company registered with companies house then company debts would disappear with the company unless there are any personal guarantees, and any assets (e.g. money in bank accounts) are seized by the crown.

Was there an accountant used by the company ?  Is there someone registered as company secretary ? 

SiliconChip

Rather than make assumptions as others have done can you answer a few questions first.

Did your FiL make a Will, and if so was your husband one of or the sole beneficiary?

If there's no Will, does your husband have any siblings?

Was your FiL married, and if so is his wife still alive?

Was the van owned by your FiL's company or by him personally?

You should note that "next of kin" has no legal meaning in terms of inheritance or who deals with a death.

Marcon

SiliconChip said:

Rather than make assumptions as others have done can you answer a few questions first.

Did your FiL make a Will, and if so was your husband one of or the sole beneficiary?

If there's no Will, does your husband have any siblings?

Was your FiL married, and if so is his wife still alive?

Was the van owned by your FiL's company or by him personally?

You should note that "next of kin" has no legal meaning in terms of inheritance or who deals with a death.

This isn't going to help OP, who is clearly well out of their depth - and could be totally irrelevant depending on what the Articles of the company say. Pointing OP towards professional help is the only sensible way forward.

Marcon

p00hsticks said:

I'm not an expert but I think that it should be possible for your husband to just pay the company market value for the van. this would need to be done before the company is closed, and the money then distributed amongst the creditors - there may be a priority order for this so tread carefully. 

Then someone (?) would need to take steps to get the company struck off with Companies House .
Closing a limited company - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Not necessarily. There may be value in the company (goodwill), or as OP has mentioned, her husband might want to run it.

p00hsticks said:

Assuming it is a limited company registered with companies house then company debts would disappear with the company unless there are any personal guarantees, and any assets (e.g. money in bank accounts) are seized by the crown.

Assets would be used to pay debts, if necessary.

Where does the crown come into it - what about the shareholders?