Deceased wife's refund

Hoagey

My wife passed away 10 months ago and we paid her bills out of a joint bank account. When she passed we failed to inform a finance company with whom she had purchased a mobile phone and some other electrical devices. We contacted them to advise that she had passed away 10 months ago. Because she paid from the joint account it was not frozen by the bank. Is my wifes estate due a refund back dated to when she passed away?

tacpot12

What happened about paying the finance company for the money your wife owed? Did her estate pay off the debt? 

If not, then the debt is still owed and any payments from the joint account have gone to repay what she borrowed.

elsien

Did you inform them of her death? As presumably you still have the phone and other items, the cost would have been owed from her estate. You probably need to speak to their bereavement teams if they have one about the next steps. 

Keep_pedalling

Any outstanding finance at the time of death should be paid off by the estate providing it is not insolvent (assets less than funeral costs). If her estate is insolvent then you need to let her creditors know by writing to them to inform them that her estate was insolvent and that no one is administering it. If her estate was solvent then her creditors are next in line after funeral costs and they need to be paid.

I don’t think you will be able to get anything back from any DD or SO payments after her death.

lisyloo

Hoagey said:

My wife passed away 10 months ago and we paid her bills out of a joint bank account. When she passed we failed to inform a finance company with whom she had purchased a mobile phone and some other electrical devices. We contacted them to advise that she had passed away 10 months ago. Because she paid from the joint account it was not frozen by the bank. Is my wifes estate due a refund back dated to when she passed away?

Sorry for your loss.
If it was a loan then there is no automatic right to have a loan written off.
I presume you still have the goods so could sell them?
Do you have any paperwork or emails related to the loan?
My guess is her estate is not due any refund as it was probably a loan that needs to still be repaid.

Hoenir

Are the outstanding finance agreements now all settled?