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Hello all
First, thank you Ostell for your response and advice to my last post: I'm still trying to help my friend deal with her late mother's estate, which as I said is insolvent. There's about £3k in cash, and a wedding ring, no property as living in rented accommodation, but quite a few creditors, circa £29K owed to Barclaycard, Cabot, Moorcroft (debts of her late husband, which she was paying off monthly via Step Change). She was in her 80s.
She/we've now written to all the creditors and put an ad in the gazette, but she's concerned about what she needs to provide to each of the creditors to get matters sorted out once and for all.
LIke I say, her mum's estate is tiny, about £3k in a bank account and that's it. She rented same place for 49 years, and the furniture was tat and my friend had to pay to get it taken away. She has some constume jewellery and a wedding ring. Her clothes had to be disposed of due to Covid and charities not being willing to accept them. My friend has paid for house clearance, and house cleaning (she only had a few weeks before needing to give flat back).
I'm wondering, hence this post, if she can send a simple letter to each creditor, enclosing a list of assets and liabilities, e.g. copy of her mum's bank statements showing outgoings and balance when she died, and her mum's rent book or similar to prove she was renting, and a list of stuff my friend has paid for, such as for death certificates, house clearance, etc, and a list of creditors, not by name, but anonymised by amount. And a total of the value of the estate, which will be maybe £1000 BEFORE any creditors receive anything, and add that each creditor will be eligible to receive a pro rata amount of what is left, which will prob be no more than £200 for each one.
Would this approach be sufficient? The estate is so small my friend has not applied for formal probate. The other fly in the ointment is that she cannot find the will. She recalls seeing one which named her as sole beneficiary (she's the only child) which is academic given debts. Can she explain this in the letter, e.g. 'I recall seeing a simple will that named me a a beneficiary but I have since lost it, perhaps I threw it out inadvertently'
I am going to help her draft the letter, if indeed a letter is adequate. She could add a simple witness statement saying all facts are true.
I'd be grateful if anyone can tell me if I'm on the right track with this, as my friend is getting quite stressed about the paperwork. She has heard from HMRC that no tax is due, and looks like her mum is due a bit of pension, probably her last payment or something which my friend is sorting out.
Thanks a lot.
First, thank you Ostell for your response and advice to my last post: I'm still trying to help my friend deal with her late mother's estate, which as I said is insolvent. There's about £3k in cash, and a wedding ring, no property as living in rented accommodation, but quite a few creditors, circa £29K owed to Barclaycard, Cabot, Moorcroft (debts of her late husband, which she was paying off monthly via Step Change). She was in her 80s.
She/we've now written to all the creditors and put an ad in the gazette, but she's concerned about what she needs to provide to each of the creditors to get matters sorted out once and for all.
LIke I say, her mum's estate is tiny, about £3k in a bank account and that's it. She rented same place for 49 years, and the furniture was tat and my friend had to pay to get it taken away. She has some constume jewellery and a wedding ring. Her clothes had to be disposed of due to Covid and charities not being willing to accept them. My friend has paid for house clearance, and house cleaning (she only had a few weeks before needing to give flat back).
I'm wondering, hence this post, if she can send a simple letter to each creditor, enclosing a list of assets and liabilities, e.g. copy of her mum's bank statements showing outgoings and balance when she died, and her mum's rent book or similar to prove she was renting, and a list of stuff my friend has paid for, such as for death certificates, house clearance, etc, and a list of creditors, not by name, but anonymised by amount. And a total of the value of the estate, which will be maybe £1000 BEFORE any creditors receive anything, and add that each creditor will be eligible to receive a pro rata amount of what is left, which will prob be no more than £200 for each one.
Would this approach be sufficient? The estate is so small my friend has not applied for formal probate. The other fly in the ointment is that she cannot find the will. She recalls seeing one which named her as sole beneficiary (she's the only child) which is academic given debts. Can she explain this in the letter, e.g. 'I recall seeing a simple will that named me a a beneficiary but I have since lost it, perhaps I threw it out inadvertently'
I am going to help her draft the letter, if indeed a letter is adequate. She could add a simple witness statement saying all facts are true.
I'd be grateful if anyone can tell me if I'm on the right track with this, as my friend is getting quite stressed about the paperwork. She has heard from HMRC that no tax is due, and looks like her mum is due a bit of pension, probably her last payment or something which my friend is sorting out.
Thanks a lot.
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