Owed a debt from an estate

[Gnoble17]

Thank you for any help.

My mother's ex partner passed away recently. She is owed approximately £100000 from his estate, this must be paid and is all in writing and legal etc...

His also had an equity realease loan that needs paying at the same time. This will be approximately £200000. The executor of the the estate is getting the house and land valued.i expect it will be between £500 and £700k.

I have limited experience with probate. My mother is entitled to her money however it is a delicate process and she wishes to handle it with as little fuss as possible. My question really is when should she be hearing from his solicitors? She knows she will have to have a solitor of her own but as it is a debt rather than an amount left to a beneficiary we are hoping it will be straight forward. The executor has expressed to other family members that she knows that my mother is to be paid along with the equity realease loan first before any passes to beneficiarys.

Amy help at all would be a appreciated.

[PallasAthena]

Debts of an estate are paid before anything is distributed to beneficiaries. If your mother is both a creditor of the estate (for the £100k) and a beneficiary those two payments will be handled separately, the debt should be paid first.

It sounds as if there are sufficient assets to pay both the £100k debt to your mother and the £200k equity release loan so that shouldn't be a problem. However if the house needs to be sold before there is sufficient cash available to repay the loans she may have to wait until the sale is completed before she gets the repayment. The Executor should keep creditors such as your mother advised of progress in settling the estate's debts. Sometimes of course house sales can take a long time.

Has she submitted her claim formally to the executors/solicitors for repayment of the debt with the supporting evidence?

Is she anticipating any difficulties? If not why does she feel she will need a solicitor of her own? If it's clear how much the debt is and it is uncontentious and the documentation is all in order it's not obvious why she would need her own solicitor.

Why is it "a delicate process"? It sounds as if the loan was arranged correctly in a formal way with proper legal documentation and the solicitors acting with the estate should deal with it professionally.

[atticus]

Your mother would do well to notify (or remind) the executor of the debt owed to her.