Insolvent funeral debts administration

tgj137

My wife's father passed away. There was no will. He had around £2000 which the bank transferred. This was used to pay toward funeral, utilities and rent but we covered some of this in order to allow the flat to be returned to the landlord.
There are also outstanding credit cards and a parking CCJ.
I have read that we need to write stating the estate is insolvent, however...
On other forums it is stated that you should state the estate is not being administered- have we in effect taken on that role by paying the priority debts and how would that effect a draft letter to creditors.

FlorayG

The bank transferred it where and on whose authority? This might be relevant

tgj137

Thank you for your reply.
The bank transferred the costs direct for the funeral then balance to my wife as closest relative and then used to clear priority debts.

Keep_pedalling

Technically you have intermeddled by paying off the rent and utilities, however the other creditors won’t know that and as you won’t be applying for probate there will be no public record of the estate, so I would go ahead and tell them that no one is administering it. 

user1977

Indeed, the landlord and the utility companies shouldn't have had preferential treatment (not sure what "allowing" the flat to be returned to the landlord means really - the landlord could take it back with rent arrears outstanding). But in reality if you do no more than I doubt there will be repercussions.