Potential estate issue

[Exasperatednow]

Dh has been contacted by a solicitor representing a bank. The letter cites potential issue with the estate. They are asking where the deceased lived in a certain year.
The thing is the deceased died over 11 years ago, and as far as dh remembers there was no account with that bank. The deceased left debts.

Obviously dh will contact the solicitor. But anyone hazard a guess what thos might be about?

Who is the deceased? Were they a relative of your DHs?

Father

Sounds like it could be a scam! Be very cautious, and don't give out information or money !!

It's an actual letter and he's looked up the solicitor. It is a firm.
My dsis said could be scam too. DH thinks it isn't. It's very odd though.

Scammets often pretend to be from real organisations just in case someone checks!!.
My bet is they will ask for money, saying there's a large estate waiting to be claimed,

Ok. I'll have a proper look at the letter tomorrow.

There are a few different possibilities here. Although the fact that it's something to connected to an event eleven years ago makes me wonder if there was an outstanding mortgage when your father passed away.

There are different time limits within which different types of debts can be claimed. The longest (I think) is for mortgages. The limitation period for the capital owed on a mortgage is twelve years. So the fact that this is related to the deceased passing away eleven years ago does make me wonder if this is related to a mortgage.

"The deceased left debts."

Your DH (I take it he was an executor?) may not recall, but did he place a "Deceased Estates Notice" in the newspapers (usually The Gazette and also a local newspaper)?

This gives the name and address of the deceased and also of the executor or administrator. Once this notice has been published then any creditors have two months to make a claim against the estate in England or Wales (6 months in Scotland).

After this time, the executor (or administrator if there is no will) can distribute the estate and creditors can no longer make a claim.

However, if the executor didn't do that, and there was a debt that they were unaware of, then that may cause problems if the estate did have any assets that were distributed to the beneficiaries.

So, there are a number of different possibilities:

1. The executor placed a Deceased Estate's Notice at least two months prior to you getting this letter. In that case, there is no problem.

2. If the above did not happen, but there was in any event no estate to distribute to beneficiaries as his debts were greater than his assets. There may be a problem here if this is related to a mortgage and the executor paid out any money from the estate to pay off unsecured loans instead of secured loans. If this is the case then please speak to a solicitor.

3. If the estate did have assets after paying off whatever debts the executor was aware of (and were distributed to any beneficiaries) and if the unknown debt relates to a mortgage or other secured loan then this very definitely could be a problem. Please speak to a solicitor.

You need to understand exactly what is written in that letter and exactly what your DH's position as executor is likely to be.

The solicitor has come back.
It seems there was a previous will lodged with the bank in 1990. There is a later will thar superceded that. There was only debts no money to be distributed.
The solicitor has asked to see certain information but hasn't said why. Dh won't be giving it unless there is a clear reason why because the will they hold is not valid as superceded. So we can't see why it is any of their business.