Who is responsible for the debt

[Threeboysadogandacat]

Dss died last month. No money for funeral, had debt being collected through debt collection agency (approx £2000). Can we (NOK) be held responsible for his debt. Can “they” claim items back from his (meagre) belongings. Does the funeral get paid before any debts? Scottish Law. Thanks.

I'm sorry for your loss.

No, NOK can't be held responsible for any debt, and you shouldn't need to pay for a funeral either (although you'll need to be clear that you can't I think, and there might not be a funeral as such to attend if this is the path you choose).

Funeral gets paid before debts
As long as funeral is reasonable Costs

No as NOK you aren't liable for their debts so don't give your details to debt company

Inform them in time that they died

If they have savings or money left over, then debts can be claimed from their estate before any inheritance

This is the way

I'm so sorry for you loss

If you don't have money to pay for funeral burial costs , the council has a duty (to do what used to be called a paupers funeral) but they can't do that if you've already instructed a funeral director. They will claim Costs back from estate as much as there is but bear rest of costs. Look it up in your local council. Family get invited but it literally is burial / cremation costs only

(So no wake and no flowers )

Source : I'm in a job role that
I've arranged a number of "pauper" funerals

Funeral costs come first.

Personal liability will depend on whether any family member has acted as guarantor for the debt and whether anyone has inappropriately intromitted with the estate.

When my mum died she had a car loan that I thought we'd be responsible for . The very nice man on the phone who worked for the car loan company had to ask me many times if the money for the car loan could be used for other things before I twigged that he was trying to tell me that we didn't have to pay the money back and that the debt would be written off. You are not responsible for any debts.

Thank you so much for all the advice.It’s all a bit of a mess. His brother contacted the undertaker (as advised by the police) when he was found. For the sake of his brothers and sister, dh and I are paying for a very simple funeral. As a low income family, I believe we will be able to claim something towards it and the rest will have to go on a credit card. He deserves that at least. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to go to charity/dump but dh is worried about giving anything away in case his debtors have a claim on it. No one has acted as guarantor for his debt.

If you or partner are on benefits, may be eligible for Funeral Support Payment. See Scottish Government website.

Estate is insolvent therefore no personal debt liability.

@nosalt thank you. We get child tax credit for our youngest so will apply for that once I receive his bank statements. I have requested the last 3 months from the bank.

Estate is insolvent therefore no personal debt liability.

So, if he had anything of value (a bike and an extensive train set possibly) could this be sold towards the cost if the funeral or could the debt collection company claim them?

Funeral costs come first so they could be sold to help pay for funeral. It’s worth noting that funeral costs don’t include the wake/ cars/ flowers just the coffin/ service /cremation.

Sorry for your loss.

when you say a bike, do you mean a motorbike? What do you think the potential resale value would be? I know a car could be termed an asset of an estate, but I’d think anything less than £1/2k would be negligible.

Same goes for the train set. Although the initial investment could be large, unless it’s something that’s easily £5k plus as a resale, I don’t think it would cause worry for an estate and is simply a personal item.

@StreamingCervix thank you

electric bike ? £500 and train set, yes huge outlay but probably a couple of hundred sale value.

So, look up the rules on probate (if he left no will). It will tell you what you need to do. I cannot imagine that an electric bike and £200 train set will cover cost of funeral

As says by another PP, the funeral costs will be funeral cremation not the fancy extras like flowers and a wake.

It very much depends on country and probate intestate rules but I doubt you'll get pursued for a second hand electric bike and old train set value that you used towards actual basic funeral costs.
It's not your debt and estate was insolvent

I don't know Scotland, but I think it depends on how the funeral director was instructed (in England anyway)

For DH's funeral the bill was sent to me and I claimed it back against "the estate". I'd given the instructions though, so the invoice was mine to pay, it would still have been due if his estate was insufficient to cover it.

NOK can't be obliged to pay for a funeral, but if you can't you need to say so early and the council will make the arrangements.

If you are on a qualifying benefit you can apply for funeral support payment in Scotland.

https://www.mygov.scot/funeral-support-payment

@backaftera2yearbreak thank you.

Yes, we should qualify for this as we get child tax credit for our youngest. I’m just waiting for statements from his bank account to arrive and I will apply.