Who pays when the estate has nothing?

rokerbabe

A relative died without a will as there was almost nothing left in the estate - approximately £3,000 which didn't cover the cost of the funeral.
They owned a house which had been remortgaged under a capital release mortgage and is now worth less than what is now outstanding on the mortgage.
There was no will but the family is happy to hand the keys to the mortgage company immediately. However, as there was no will they have now learned they have to get letters of administration which have been applied for.
The family has cleared the property and informed the utilities they will be gone as of July 31, 2024 but will pay until that point. One person had remained in the home as they had been a carer for the family member but has already left as soon as they could find an alternative property.
The mortgage company says the estate is responsible for the bills until the letters of administration are received and the house handed over.
As there is no money in the estate who is responsible? Can anyone help please as we don't have the funds to pay - and have no interest in the property anyway. Is it easiest just to get utilities disconnected so there is no bill as it won't make a difference to anything we do? I also don't know how council tax will work for the property.
Thank you

rokerbabe

By the way - when I say can anyone help I obviously mean just with advice. I realise I've worded it badly

artyboy

walk away, don't administer the estate. It's not anyone's responsibility to do anything, and you're setting yourself up for problems if you
get involved with an insolvent estate.

if anyone (mortgage co or any other creditor) contacts you or the family, just say that you are not aware of anyone administering the estate. You can't be compelled to do anything here, whatever pressure they might try and put on you...

FlorayG

If there's no will and you are not executor, then I don't see how the problem is yours in any way. Sad as it is that the estate has been left in a mess, that's for the people who are owed money to sort out

fatbelly

Those owed money are going to have to write it off.

Advice as above. Don't get involved

Keep_pedalling

artyboy said:

walk away, don't administer the estate. It's not anyone's responsibility to do anything, and you're setting yourself up for problems if you
get involved with an insolvent estate.

if anyone (mortgage co or any other creditor) contacts you or the family, just say that you are not aware of anyone administering the estate. You can't be compelled to do anything here, whatever pressure they might try and put on you...

As it seems that they have already cleared the home of its contents, I believe it is too late for that as that is intermeddling 

https://www.myerson.co.uk/news-insights-and-events/intermeddling#:~:text=Intermeddling%20is%20performing%20actions%20that,debts%20owed%20by%20the%20deceased.

FlorayG

Keep_pedalling said:

artyboy said:

walk away, don't administer the estate. It's not anyone's responsibility to do anything, and you're setting yourself up for problems if you
get involved with an insolvent estate.

if anyone (mortgage co or any other creditor) contacts you or the family, just say that you are not aware of anyone administering the estate. You can't be compelled to do anything here, whatever pressure they might try and put on you...

As it seems that they have already cleared the home of its contents, I believe it is too late for that as that is intermeddling 

https://www.myerson.co.uk/news-insights-and-events/intermeddling#:~:text=Intermeddling%20is%20performing%20actions%20that,debts%20owed%20by%20the%20deceased.

If it's 'the family' who cleared the house, which of them is going to be considered the 'intermeddler'? Usually in cases like this everyone pitches in and does a bit

rokerbabe

Thank you. The house contents are still there but not worth anything - it was decent furniture but won't sell for anything. We have now applied for letters of administration after being told to by the mortgage firm - wish I'd asked on here first! We were going to clear them out rather than leave them to the mortgage firm to have to deal with but maybe we shouldn't now. I just know we want to do it properly as the person who died would want that

Flugelhorn

rokerbabe said:

Thank you. The house contents are still there but not worth anything - it was decent furniture but won't sell for anything. We have now applied for letters of administration after being told to by the mortgage firm - wish I'd asked on here first! We were going to clear them out rather than leave them to the mortgage firm to have to deal with but maybe we shouldn't now. I just know we want to do it properly as the person who died would want that

ideally it would have been the legal department of the mortgage company who applied for LoA as they were owed a large amount of money - TBH I would just leave everything as it is otherwise the mortgage company could statr asking you for details of the all the stuff you got rid of and may think that you have made some money out of it. 

The utility companies will just have to write this off too 

artyboy

Is there a process to cancel administratorship once granted?

Savvy_Sue

artyboy said:

Is there a process to cancel administratorship once granted?

I don't think once granted it can be cancelled. Not sure if you can cancel an application in progress, and there is the question above about intermeddling.