Help please-credit card debt and death!

zippy1975

My mother passed away very recently and she has A tesco credit card a barclaycard (which i had recently become a second card holder on both) a store card and a litlewoods account.

She only left enough for her funeral as dad died only a few months ago and left huge debt which took all of their savings, am i responsible for the joint cards and the others? I have had conficting stories and as we have only just got the death certificate i have only just informed the debtors by letter, but i cant settle and hope someone can help me. ang x

KTF

If your mother was the primary card holder then I believe the debt comes out of the estate. I dont think you will be liable for it.

Bismarck

I'm sorry to hear your news. I hope you're taking care of yourself.

I agree that the debt should not follow on if your mother was the primary cardholder. Please seek CAB advice.

good luck.

Clariman

Hi Zippy. I'm really sorry to hear of the loss of your parents. How terribly sad to lose them both so close to each other. As others have said, look after yourself.

As far as credit card debt is concerned, the fact that you were an additional cardholder is totally irrelevant. The actual debt is the debt of the principal cardholder and only the principal cardholder. You have no responsibility whatsoever for that debt. I don't know what your father's debts were, but if they were credit cards and he was the principal cardholder, then your mother should not have paid off those debts because it was his debt not hers.

So, you have no responsibility for her card debts. However, if there is sufficient money in your mother's estate, then they are legally entitled to be paid out of her estate. For example, if your mother had savings of £1000, a house worth £75,000 and other assets of £4000, then her estate would be £80,000. If she had credit card debts of £15,000 then the credit card company would take it out of that £80,000 which means that only £65,000 would be available to be passed on as inheritence.

In practice, some credit card companies will write-off the debt and not seek for it to be paid out of the estate, but that would be a lucky bonus if that happened.

Clariman

skylight

Exactly as Clariman says. You are not responsible in anyway. All debts come out of the estate. Even if there is no estate, you are still not liable in anyway.

I have to be frank here though. Her creditors may not imply that. I have know of several instances (some on here too if you search the forums carefully) that creditors have implied (after a period of time after the passing away) that the relatives are responsible for the debt.

*If* that happens, get over to DFW board. They will be able to point you in the right direction for templates etc. But dont worry about it for now. Its a may/may not occurance. Looking after yourself is paramount right now.

lisyloo

Sorry to hear of your loss.

As others have said you are not liable for the debt.
However it would come out of the estate before any money was passed on.
This may include house, car or any money available from private pension funds if she died before retirement.
If there literally is nothing then the credit card company will have no option but to write-off the debt.
However be aware that credit card companies do sometimes use dirty tactics in this situation and try to pressure other people into paying the bill.
Their letters will probably be technically and legally correct but can be worded cleverly to give the wrong impression about liability for the debt.

King_Of_Fools

I agree with all the above, the only caveat is to make sure you do not use your mother's credit cards (as a secondary card holder) otherwise you could get yourself into a sticky situation.