Managing a very small estate with potential insurance payout in future

[amalit]

I am in Scotland. My partner died in October 24. He left no will. We did not live together but have a child together. He lived in a flat owned by me,
When he passed away, he left little estate – less than £5000. Mainly consisting of work tools and TVs (which were illegally removed from flat by his sister so I do not have access to these). The rest are clothing and books which would not be of high monetary value.

The money left in his bank account was used to pay £1000 toward his funeral. I paid the remaining £3000.

However, there he had an ongoing legal insurance claim from a work’s accident, which if successful, may pay around £7000-8000 after lawyer fees. I acknowledge my son would be entitled to this, as well as his half sister who is age 25. I was unsure about taking this over as due to debts it may not be worth it.

May partner had some debts, a few credit card debits which have been passed to a debt collector, totally approx £400-500. He has a debt in relation to a car that he thought was faulty when he bought it and defaulted on payments. The car was later impounded and sold at auction by the city council. I think it may be around £3000-4000 debt. He also had a council tax debt of around £900. The council previously contacted me and I informed that there is no estate to pay this.

If I am to pursue the legal claim, I would need to become an executor and be responsible for paying his debts from estate. At the moment there is no money available to pay off any debts.

If any debts are not disclosed, I may be liable for these so I would put a notice in newspaper to protect against this. If I put an estates notice in the Gazette and local newspaper, at present, can I say that there is no estate, as at present this is true. If I later then receive money from the legal claim (e.g next year), can the debtors then reclaim from the money gained from the legal claim at this point?

If so, would I be able to reclaim any money paid towards the funeral (£3000) prior to debts being paid?

[PallasAthena]

Tagging sederunt

[sederunt]

I cannot see how you would have a right to be decerned executor other than if your son is under 16 years and then you may be entitled to be executor as legal representative of your son - and that right could be jointly with the 25 year old.

If a successful insurance pay out was made to the estate, then you could recover your funeral expenses in preference to creditors claims. But if the payout is to the children, then you would have no personal entitlement, nor would creditors.

An estates notice in the Gazette and local newspaper serves little or no purpose in Scotland in your circumstances.