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I am seeking some advice about how to manage the finances of my father after he sadly passed away this weekend. I am partly doing this as I would like to re-assure my mother. He left his financial paperwork in a bit of a mess, and frankly wasn't the best at managing his money. My Mum is the sole benefiary of his will. He was 65 and she is 59. My brother is the executor, although I am helping him with it hence this post. I am in the UK, and we live in England although my Dad is Scottish. So far, based upon the paperwork we have found (we still have a lot to sort through), this is where we stand: - Mortgage / Loans secured on the family house in England. The latest statement we have found so far puts the owed balance at ~£100k. We reckon the house is probably worth £250k. This is a joint mortgage with my mother, and she jointly owns the property. - At least 6 credit cards, debt totalling ~£25k - Some overdraft, I think probably around ~£2k + Shares valued about ~£9k + Premium bonds. We haven't found the certificate, but we speculate it's probably around ~£5k + He owns a flat in Scotland (Worth maybe ~£110k with no debts secured against it (we hope!)). Even though it is solely his in the eyes of the law, in our eyes his sister owns half of it. + He owns two cars. They are nothing special, and total value is probably no more than £3k. My understanding is (setting aside things like funeral costs, etc, which to be honest we and the rest of the family will probably just pay for): My Dad's estate: - Does NOT include the mortgage or house in England, as these go to my mother who was joint holder. - The creditors will seek to clear the credit card debts & overdraft. This means that the entirety of the shares, premium bonds, his cars (or money from) will go to them. The remaining £10k would come out of his property in Scotland (how would that work? sell up and give them the cash?) - This leaves £90k. We would pay half of the value of the Scotland flat to his sister (this is out of family good faith, we don't legally have to do this but we will). This leaves ~£40k from the estate. My mother: - Will, through survivorship, "inherit" the house in England and the remaining loans & mortgage secured on it (so ~£100k debt secured on a ~£250k property) - Will get ~£40k from my Dad's estate (minus £1k he left to the local church) - Will get ~£40k lump sum (maybe less as he took partial retirement) from his pension. - Assuming she'd want to pay off the mortgage straight away, this would leave her owing £20k with a £250k property. So, as far as I can tell, she can sell up the house buy somewhere at least £20k cheaper (well I guess £30k cheaper to cover the costs associated with moving) and end up being debt free with ~£200k worth of assets to her name. Then she would live off the pension payments (state plus his death in service widow's civil service pension) and with support from me and my siblings (all of us are in decently paid full time employment and will be there to help with everything she needs) Have I missed something or does this just about cover it? We will probably seek professional legal advice, but I just want to see if I can get my head around it. This will also help me to re-assure my Mum who, for a time, basically thought she would be "inheriting" a huge amount of debt (the mortgage) and be living in debt for the rest of her life.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2013 22:41 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 01:00 |
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Firstly, you and your family have my deepest sympathies. Secondly, do seek the advice of a solicitor (http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/find-a-solicitor/ and search under 'wills and probate'). Do remember the laws in England & Scotland aren't the same. Take a look at the Probate section on The Law Society website for more information: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-th...issues/probate/ unam3d fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 17:41 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 17:38 |
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