Scottish Power sold my deceased brothers debt

hib67

Hi

Can anyone advise what I need to do.  I have already spoken to CAB - useless just gave me basic advice printed off the internet.

My brother passed away in February, he was on a key card meter for both gas & electricity with Scottish Power.  I filled in the form on their website to inform them of the death and to close the account.

Today I have received a a debt collectors letter from Conexus asking for £460.11 for outstanding bills.  I have no bills to show this is owed,  and I have had no communication at all from Scottish Power.  

When my brother was found there was no power on in the house at all so obviously his credit had run out on both gas and electric - we did not add any as we could not find the cards to have them topped up.

I do not believe this money is owed or if any is owed it is not at this amount.  

What I need to know is are they legally able to come after me for the amount owed?  I don't even know where they got my details from as I did not supply them to Scottish Power.  I am not the executor, there is no money from my brother he literally had a van that we sold to pay for his funeral.

elsien

You have no obligation to pay his debts, they are just on a fishing trip. 

If there was any money in his estate, then that would pay for it if it was evidenced that the money was due.
 As his estate is bankrupt I would just write back to them and say the estate was insolvent, you are not dealing with it, please leave you alone. 

However, you do say that “we” sold the van so someone must’ve been sorting something out at that stage? 

born_again

Sorry for the loss.
I would tell the company the person they are chasing is deceased.

hib67

Yes i personally sold his van for £6,000 we paid the funeral from this and the accountant bill (he had a small milk round), we are waiting for the tax bill to come in from the accountant and mum will pay that from her own money when it comes in - but don't expect this to be a to of money. 

I paid up his council tax, yorkshire water wrote off his bill that was due as it literally had just gone into the new bill year.

So before you know it the £6,000 has gone.  that is all the money there was.

Keep_pedalling

White back to them telling them that the estate is insolvent and after funeral costs there are no assets left. Also inform them that no one is administering the estate, that should be the end of it.

lohr500

I am sorry to hear of your loss.

When you filled out the form to close your brother's account, did you get any acknowledgement?
And is there a breakdown of the £460.11 for the outstanding bills?
Has the house passed hands?

I'm just wondering if Scottish Power never processed your notification and the outstanding bill is for the electricity and gas Standing Charges from February to now, plus some high administration fee to cover the Conexus charges.