Hello

[Appadult]

Hi everyone - my husband died last month - I am executor and sole beneficiary. I paid funeral costs on my credit card and now Nat West are asking me if they can use his money to pay off his credit card debts - he has approx £4000 in his current account and £400 in his reward account - CC debt to Nat West = just over £11,000. They say they can't refund* funeral costs only pay funeral director directly . This wasn't mentioned when I paid them 2 days after his death (lock down was imminent and I had to move quickly) . His estate owes me £5000 - can they just with* hold his money an pay CC or do they have to release his money to me?

[des8]

Hi and welcome

Sorry to hear of your loss and subsequent problems.

If I was in your position I would be telling the bank that your late husband's accounts must remain frozen until you have the grant of probate.
You cannot give them permission to take assets from the estate to pay an unsecured debt, and they should not be requesting it!
At that point you present the grant to the bank and order them to release his funds to you and at the same time they notify you as executor of his debts.
Funeral expenses and estate administration costs* are paid first so you then withdraw the funeral costs from his estate, and then you pay any other priority debts.
The debts are paid in a specific order:

1. Secured debts, such as mortgage repayments
2. Priority debts, like income tax and council tax
3. Unsecured debts, including utility bills and credit cards
4. If there is not enough money in the estate to pay off all the debts, the most important are paid off first, the remainder in proportion