Are we now responsible for FILs debts now he's passed away?

[DebtAfterDeath]

Really sorry, posted in legal but also here as i know traffic is heavier and i am desperate for advice.
FIL recently passed away ( 5 weeks ago).
Today my husband has found a letter from Ovo stating he owes £3600.
We also believe he had other debs and CCJs but we have no idea on the amounts.
My SIL used the Tell us Once service but Citizens Advise told me today they don't notify people he owes money to and that's our responsibility.
His only estate is the £6000 in his bank when he died (which the bank have already sent to SIL and she has split in half with my husband) and a potential £10k life insurance claim. He privately rented and had nothing else, no valuables and so on.
We are really worried that we may get chased up for money and Citizen's Advise have recommend we register his death in The Gazette. It's going to cost £100 to do it (fine). But nobody I'm talking to seems to have heard of this and are saying pretty much just leave it, he didn't own a lot anyway and this is more for people with large estates.
We want to do the right thing I'm just not sure what that is?
Also there is an option on The Gazette to use the forwarding address service so our address doesn't get disclosed but again this doubles the cost of the notice to almost £200 and we aren't sure how necessary it is
We are so clueless, I'd be really grateful for any advice. The lady at Citizen's Advice was lovely but admitted she got all her advice off the internet as it was a new one to her!
Thanks

What everyone else said re how this should have been done. But, the moneynhas already been distributed. So.

From a quick google, it seems that the Gazette notice can maybe protect you from claims made by creditors later. So it sounds like a very good idea to me.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100975#:~:text=Placing%20a%20notice%20in%20The,distributing%20the%20estate%20to%20beneficiaries.

If the bank account and life insurance were held in a trust they may not be part of the estate. However there are different types of trust and it's complicated.

I think you need advice but be careful because a solicitor could use up quite a lot of the estate.

Life insurance company and the bank should be able to give advice on whether there is a trust or not and what type.

Recently been through this. We just rang them and said they were deceased and there was no estate. They all just cancelled the debt there and then without checking. I wouldn't go volunteering to pay it.

I thought the same. Debtors are owed the money from the estate unless there is nothing in the estate. As it was he had £6000 which should have at the very least paid off the £3600 owed.

There is an estate.
So they can't just lie

But in this case there is an estate. The debts become a liability of the estate and need to be paid prior to any distribution to beneficiaries or next of kin.

Don't spent that money

It is important. A will might exclude the SIL as a beneficiary, in which case she should never have been paid any money at all. A will might specify who the executor/s are, and that may or may not have included the SIL. She may have had no right to get involved in this at all. If there is no will, then he would have died intestate, and proper procedures have to be followed. It has to be proved that there are no other potential beneficiaries. He may, for instance, have had other children that the SIL and the OP's DH are unaware of.

All this has to be done, even if there won't be any money left after all final expenses and debts have been paid.

I have relevant (and currently ongoing) experience of having to deal with the endless paperwork following the death of relatives, both with and without wills. It is not as straightforward as you think it is.

I can’t believe people are suggesting you lie and say there is no estate. That’s outright fraud.

SIL has made a very serious error. The money can’t be distributed until the estate debts have been paid. You both need to pay back the money to the estate and only once all debts are paid can whatever is left be split amongst the beneficiaries.

I’m not sure many people on here have an idea on what they are posting about; I wouldn’t assume that you are liable or that a small unsecured debt should come from the estate (but not a solr). If the companies chase you i would be saying no probate (if there wasn’t?) and send them the death cert
i personally doubt they would pursue…

My mum's bank released remaining funds to me, two months after she died, the funeral director sent his bill to the bank and they settled it before the money was transferred to me.

I had to open a special bank account an executors account, I had to visit a main branch to do this. Death certificate, will, my passport were required before the account was opened.

I settled some outstanding debts, like a repayment of pension money and my sister had paid for the wake catering.

Once probate had been granted and her property sold, at that point I paid out to the beneficiaries of the estate.

You’re wrong.

And why on earth would you think that the debt who is owed by the deceased shouldn’t come from the estate?!

I think you’re top of that list of people!

Banks will release what they consider to be smaller amounts of money without the need for probate. I was surprised when they did this after my dad died recently as I'd expected to need to give them probate as I'd done when my mum died. This money should be used to settle all debts before being distributed. You'll also need to tell HMRC about his death.

When my partner died I was able to get free advice on this from Co-op legal services. They were very helpful, https://www.coop.co.uk/funeralcare/what-to-do-when-someone-dies/legal-support-wills-probate

Agree with this. I have had cheques for smaller amounts directly to me as executor. You don't need to have a separate executor's account as long as you keep all the paperwork. Other institutions will want to see a copy of the will on email, and a copy of the death certificate. For larger sums of money, the bank or other institution will want to see the grant of Probate, or Confirmation as it's called in Scotland.

HMRC are informed if you use the "tell us once" service, we had a refund of a small amount of tax.

The bank would of have sister the money as being the representative of your FIL, it’s then down to the next of kin or executors to settle the debts from his estate.

Id try my luck personally and say we don’t think there’s anything in the estate and see what happens - but it’s not your debt to pay either way, it’s whatever money is left over.

We were not allowed to touch my parents money until probate had been sorted and any debts were paid. Funeral costs were paid directly by the estate then anything left is split as per the instructions in their will. Mum only died 6 years ago but I appreciate things change.

The thing is you don’t have to do this at all though. You only NEED/WANT to do this if the value of the estate exceeds the debts.

As is said upthread - any life insurance policy proceeds falls outside of the estate.

One of my parents died with more debts than assets. So although I was next of kin and they were intestate I didn’t go to the bother of doing a grant of administration etc. It’s a faff and of no benefit to me. No one can be made to do it. I just sent death cert to the various companies they owed money to, told them they died bankrupt and that was that.

My Mum died in May and both the bank and the building society released the balance of the bank accounts to me on production of the death certificate. I have had to apply for Probate to sell the house but both the bank and building society advised that as the balances on the accounts was less than 50,000 GBP they did not require to see Probate.

I have been paying the utility bills etc out of the money from the bank account and realise that ONLY when any debts are paid is the balance mine.

If he left a sum of money then the debts are settled from that. If he left no money then the debt is written off. As he left £6k then the debts must be settled from that. You and your sister should not have spent that money until the debts were settled.

Then the £6,000 is your father's.estate and should have been put to settling his estate.

In this instance there was an estate, and it was more than enough to cover the known debts. People can't just take the money and run - if there are debts they need to be paid if there is money available.

Do what citizens advice said, there's a claim expiry date.