Insolvent Estate and Renounce Ex

silvercar

Arnold03 said:

Thank you both so much. I will have them ready to go and filed at home here ready to go when the time comes.

in your experience, will a creditor step up fairly promptly (the lender is biggest with around 250k and funding circle are  next with 115k ) to seek administration? 

Depends what you mean by fairly promptly. Mortgage lenders take a few months of non payment to step into action, other than a couple of letters reminding that the home is at risk for non payment. They would usually pass it to a bereavement department who would then take a few months to step into action. Effectively this is a repossession, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes 9 months to be put on the market and then a few more months to complete a sale. The only thing that may spur them on is that the funding circle will be circling (!)  round like a vulture to get their hands on their money, so if the lender doesn’t act quickly they risk the funding circle stepping in. With a 6 figure sum owed to them, they will get involved. They could do it in one of 2 ways, either administer the estate themselves or put a charging order on the property to ensure they get first dibs on the equity once the lender has been repaid. I don’t know which way they are likely to choose, but either way I can’t see it being done in less than a year.

Luckily you are living elsewhere, so don’t have the problems associated with a sale going on around you or dealing with a repossession. Your neighbours face having an empty house next door! You are going to have to close your eyes to all this and let them get on with it. In theory, they don’t have to keep you informed, as it isn’t your business. Sadly I would expect any creditor who isn’t fully repaid by the sale to write to you and request / demand you pay up. Remember -it’s not your debt and not your problem.

poppystar

Arnold03 said:

Is this sufficient … or too much… or not enough? (do I include my address?)


To creditor XXXX

i am writing to inform you that MR XXXX passed away on 22nd April. 

A will was left, both executors have renounced. As such no one is administering the estate.

It is believed the estate is insolvent.
i have enclosed death certificate for your records.

PA15s and a copy of will can be provided to whoever wants to apply to administer the estate.

Regards 

You will need to give them some form of contact so that anyone wanting to take on the administration can obtain the Will and PA15 from you. At this stage you might feel more comfortable giving just an email address perhaps? 

Once you’ve completed and filed away the PA15 and Will then I suggest you sit down together with a nice cup of tea (or stronger) and mark that moment so you both feel that the renouncing has happened! From then on it’s the broken record technique if anyone tries contacting you, be it a debtor, estate agent or whoever - just send them the exact same letter again and keep doing that until someone asks for the info to take over executorship of the estate. It’s time to grieve and move on with this in place so the estate doesn’t consume anymore of your life and thoughts. Take care.

Arnold03

Thank you 🩷🩷🩷🩷
‘If when they start writing, I simply reply that it’s not my debt (as they will know!) and to cease all further contact? 

silvercar

Arnold03 said:

Thank you 🩷🩷🩷🩷
‘If when they start writing, I simply reply that it’s not my debt (as they will know!) and to cease all further contact? 

Yes. At that point you could point them to whoever took on the estate administration. Definitely tell them to cease contact with you. 

“This is not my debt, the estate of Mr XXXX was adminstered by YYYY. Please cease further contact with me.”

madbadrob

Keep_pedalling said:

Edit. Just remembered your husband had applied for bankruptcy before he died, how far has that proceeded? If an OR has been appointed you should probably contact them before you do any of the above. 

He didnt he forgot to sign back in and press submit so it never started

Rob

Arnold03

Update, all letters sent today - we have just discovered he has a small policy that might pay out up to 20k on non accidental death, obviously this is nothing to do with us, but do I forward this information to any of the creditors or wait and see if anyone contacts us re applying for administration? Just want to be totally transparent. 

doodling

Hi,

Arnold03 said:

Update, all letters sent today - we have just discovered he has a small policy that might pay out up to 20k on non accidental death, obviously this is nothing to do with us, but do I forward this information to any of the creditors or wait and see if anyone contacts us re applying for administration? Just want to be totally transparent. 

What sort of policy?  Are you sure it forms part of his estate?  if it does form part of his estate then yes, it would be helpful to mention this to whoever ends up administering the estate (as would mentioning all the other creditors and assets you are aware of) but no need to do that until someone has decided to administer.

silvercar

Arnold03 said:

Update, all letters sent today - we have just discovered he has a small policy that might pay out up to 20k on non accidental death, obviously this is nothing to do with us, but do I forward this information to any of the creditors or wait and see if anyone contacts us re applying for administration? Just want to be totally transparent. 

Policies are often written in trust, so they fall outside the estate and whoever the beneficiaries of the trust are inherit - usually the family.

Arnold03

It’s a met life policy it covered accidental death and a small potential payout for non accidental - I’m sure it would be part of his estate. Would seem wrong to come to us when monies were owed, I’m sure it would just form part of his estate (if it does pay out) 

Silvertabby

"Yes, accidental death benefits from MetLife policies are generally paid to the deceased's estate. The specific details depend on the type of policy and whether a will is in place, but the death benefit is typically paid to the personal representatives named on the Form of Discharge or as determined by a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration". 

So that seems to be that, unfortunately.  But, while we are on this subject, was your late husband always self-employed, or did he work for a large company or even in the public sector before he started his business?  If so, then he may have some pension benefits due.  Unlike the Met policy, pension fund death benefits would be paid to an eligible beneficiary (you and/or your children) and would not be included in the estate.