Debts after Death

CLAPTON

your first step is to talk to the pension fund... often/usually the pension fund is written in trust so will by pass your mother's estate.

also explain you never obtained probate as the estate had no value.. they may be able to use their discretion and pay out the money.
They might be satified with the death certificate and proof that you are the only heir (I assume that your brother had no children).

Seek advice from CAB.

WYBMADIITY_2

Ok, I will probably confuse matters even further here!

Your mum had approx. £16k of credit card debt. One major question to ask is when were these accounts originally opened? If it was more than a couple of years ago, the possibility of the companies not being able to produce a valid copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement for the accounts is quite high. Without being able to produce this document, the debt becomes unenforceable. No court would force payment of monies in these circumstances, the worst the credit card companies could do is to register a default against your mum's name, which would obviously be pointless!

Before you take any further action, could I recommend you get yourself over to the forums on www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk? There you will find many people who have extensive knowledge of debts and there enforceability. I think you may find you end up parting with very little of that pension, if any at all.

Very sorry for you loss, and wishing you the best of luck getting it sorted.

Wyb

Majenta_2

Ok, having read the paperwork some more, the most recent letter from her pension people is that the cash they are waiting for me to claim is in respect of a Death Gratuity... does this count as part of her estate or does it have nothing to do with it?

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Unless you tell the CCC they will know nothing of this windfall. It been 3 years I'd be suprised if they haven't written it off already, you can't chase a dead man/woman for money! Contact the Pension to find out exactly what you need to do to claim. I'm sure your mother would wish you to have this money rather than for you to hand it over to these greedy CCC, she must have paid enough interest to them when she was alive, she'd be turning in her grave to realise she would be doing it when dead!!!

AMD

chances are she had payment protection on the cards without realising it, so the insurance policies paid off the balances!!

Majenta_2

Majenta wrote: »

Ok, having read the paperwork some more, the most recent letter from her pension people is that the cash they are waiting for me to claim is in respect of a Death Gratuity... does this count as part of her estate or does it have nothing to do with it?

I've been doing some reading up on Death Gratuity and from what I understand, it will have nothing to do with my mother's estate so the CCC have no entitlement to the cash whatsoever, it would be legally mine once I gain Grant of Probate (this is what the pension company require before letting the money go) and I would have no obligation to pay for my mother's debts with the Gratuity. Is this right?
I could be wrong about this or maybe reading into it too much and too hopefully, so if someone could clarify or correct this then I would be grateful!

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Take the letter down to your local CAB, I sure someone there will be able to advise you.

AMD

jonesMUFCforever

Majenta wrote: »

I've been doing some reading up on Death Gratuity and from what I understand, it will have nothing to do with my mother's estate so the CCC have no entitlement to the cash whatsoever, it would be legally mine once I gain Grant of Probate (this is what the pension company require before letting the money go) and I would have no obligation to pay for my mother's debts with the Gratuity. Is this right?
I could be wrong about this or maybe reading into it too much and too hopefully, so if someone could clarify or correct this then I would be grateful!

Where have you read this?
I would have thought that all assets formed part of the estate (whether you knew about them or not) and therefore the credit card companies might want their share.
I would agree that you should speak to CAB.

The problem is that if you contact the card companies to find out what the situation is this might make them suspicious (remember a Grant of Probate is a public document which anyone can get hold of a copy), if you don't and spend the money and they find out you will be legally responsible for paying the debts back.