Please help me sort out my mums finances (death/inheritance)

[Clomid1]

Hi Everyone,

I recently lost my mum as she was terminally ill and I am now whilst grieving am trying my best to sort out her finances.

Please can you help I have never been in this situation before and am struggling to think straight so some advice would be great.

these are the details I have:
£2k in her current accounts. We have used this to pay for the funeral costs

1 house jointly owned with my dad.
A payout from her life insurance whilst she was alive (because she had less than 12 months to live). She used this whilst she was alive to fully pay off the mortgage. i have applied to remove her name from the title deeds so its solely owned by my dad.

a small pot in her private pension with nest. They paid this directly to my dad.

a death in service benefit again paid directly to my dad

she has 5.5k debt (it’s an unsecured loan and was solely in her name)

she was overpaid her PIP which I have returned to DWP.

There was another DWP overpayment. I believe it was a universal benefit claim
which was paid to her during covid however they decided she wasn’t eligible and she has been repaying. There is less than £150 outstanding on it.

I assumed that no one needed to apply for a probate as everything she had was jointly owned. However, please can you advise if I need to do it.

I haven’t put a notice on the gazette because I have access to all her bank statements and have notified all of those services. But again please let me know if I should?

Please can you also advise on the loan and the Overpayment by DWP. As my dad was the sole beneficiary of the private pension pot and death in service benefit is he now liable to repay these?

Do you think I need to speak to a solicitor? Dad is not well and honestly could use the money from her death in service and pension to get him by a bit more so I an reluctant to spend some of it speaking to a solicitor if I don’t need to.

Was the house owned as joint tenants or tenants in common?

Sorry about your mum, are you the Executor, who is the 5,5k debt with . do they know she has died.

Why wasn't the debt paid off with the insurance payment rather than the mortgage? Debts should be paid from her estate but sorry I'm not sure if the private pension payment would be classed as her estate but i would have thought so.

How old is your dad? If he is under state pension then he could look at claiming bereavement support payment which is a lump sum and then monthly payments ( small amount) for 18 months. If he is over state pension age then he won't be able to get this.

If the loan is just in her name they may write it off if she has no cash assets to pay it. Theoretically if she has the money in her estate to pay it, it should be paid out of that. Contact the lender directly or ask citizens advice first on how to approach it.

@prh47bridge the property was owned as joint tenants.
@HappyHamsters I assumed that only if there was an estate would someone need to be appointed an executor. Therefore in this case if the life insurance payout whilst she was alive, the death in service benefit and the private pension all become part of the estate then I would be the executor and sort out the finances for my dad. I wouldn’t get any monetary gain from this, whatever is left will go to my dad.
@Babyroobs mum chose to pay off her mortgage. She was the main income source and without her salary they wouldn’t have been able to pay mortgage and bills. PIP hardly covered anything. The payment from the life insurance was used to fully pay off the mortgage so that PIP and my dads income would then cover living costs and all bills. Dad is just under state pension age, he reaches state pension age next year. Thank you I will look into bereavement support.
@Silverbirchtwo yes this was my understanding too that the loan gets written off if there is nothing in estate. I am unsure about whether the nest payment and the death in service benefit go into the estate. And now slightly concerned about the life insurance payout whilst she was alive. The life insurance was paid out a year before she died

Ok yes definitely look into bereavement support payment for your dad. It's very easy to claim online via the Gov.uk site. I think it is a £2500 payment lump sum and then 18 months of £150 a month.

You may find that the death benefit and pension form part of the estate if not in trust and the debt needs clearing from that. Get some advice because otherwise your Dad or you if you have been distributing moneys could end up personally liable if you have given money from the estate away (to your dad).

Death in service forms part of your Mum's estate as did the money in her current account. Any debt she had must be repaid from her estate. Any overpayments from DWP too must be repaid. You should have repaid some of the debt from money in her current account because debt should be repaid before the funeral cost. You need to tell your Dad he's got to repay her debts because he's been the beneficiary of her assets. If you are the executor you shouldn't have given your Dad money from her current account you should have repaid off some of her debts. Your Dad will need to use some of the insurance money your Mum was paid. This should have been put in your Mum's account not given to your Dad.

@Clomid1 sorry about your mum. Are you in England? Have you read this guide www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

@ColourByNumbers88 No i hadn’t seen that guide. Thank you I will have a read.

Thanks everyone I will contact Citizens advice bureau tomorrow to try and get some further advice on this

As they were joint tenants, it does not sound like you need to get probate. The money that was paid directly to your father does not form part of her estate. The creditors (the DWP and the lender) have no claim on that money.

In theory, the DWP and the lender could use the Insolvency Act to make a claim against your father. In practice, they may not do so. If there was any money left after paying for the funeral, that should be used to pay off part of the debts. If you used this to pay off the PIP, the unsecured creditor may have a claim as all unsecured creditors should be treated equally.

You need to inform the creditors that your mother's estate is insolvent and that, after funeral expenses, there is nothing left to pay them (assuming this is true). You will have to see what they say, but hopefully the debts will be written off.