Partner deceased and solicitor chasing me for debts

[MyfanwyMontez]

My partner died suddenly in August 2024.The previous May , his father died and he took on the role of paying and dealing with the funeral directors .

I have received a letter (addressed to my partner) from a solicitor acting on behalf of the funeral directors informing me of an outstanding debt owing .

My partner had no will , no property because the property was in my name, and no assets. However, I received a death in service payment from his employees . The trustees found in my favour. Does this count as an asset?

I do not want my partner’s family involved in this , they have been through enough already.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Presumably from income. Death in Service rather implies he was employed at the time of death. How is that difficult to understand? Plenty of people are employed and receive regular income but have little by way of assets.

Death.
Debts.
No estate.
Debters chasing unnecessary people.
Yeah, completely different.

Once again thank you for all your helpful responses. A few points to mention:
My partners father died very suddenly He and his wife were on benefits and lived in a council property so there was hardly a few grand going spare to pay for funeral expenses . In hindsight, it probably would have been sensible to prepare this eventuality.

My partner took on the role of liaising with the funeral director and arranged a payment plan with them . He had paid the majority off .

My partner was only 49 when he died. He had not been ill . It was very sudden . I had to perform CPR on him whilst on the phone to the emergency services . He certainly didn’t expect to die leaving me and his 15 year old son . He was in employment right up until his death . I paid for my partner’s funeral and was considered next of kin in my dealings with bank etc .

Surely the insurance policy is classed as an asset?

No - it's almost always paid from a trust to whoever you've nominated, falling outside of your estate.

They’re not chasing yoi, theure chasing your partner.

‘Return to sender, not at this address’

I am very sorry for your loss

A lot of the so called "Solicitors" firms writing like this are debt recovery companies. They use names like "Johnsons Law" "Southampton Legal" or similar to frighten people into paying up. The person you spoke to will almost certainly not be a solicitor but a call handler.

The constant phone calls is harrassment. I would answer the next one, tell them any further calls will be reported as such and that you wish your contanct details to be removed from their database immediately as the debt is not yours and they have no right to contact you about it.

Then send the letter as above.

It depends.

If it was paid into the deceased's estate then yes.

However it's commonplace for such policies to pass outside the estate directly to a widow or partner.

I'd be inclined to write: 'DECEASED, RETURN TO SENDER' on the envelope, seal it back up and put it in the post.

After having photocopied it all of course.

I may be naive but I don’t understand how an employed man of 49 could have no assets at all.

The house may have been the OP’s and perhaps any savings were in joint names, but surely her partner had some personal belongings that were not jointly owned, such as a phone or other IT equipment

I’d have thought they ought to be sold to help pay his debts.

No assets means no savings or property or other significant items (expensive car for example). It doesnt mean phones or laptops! It doesnt mean a person literally doesnt own anything!

He was paying in installments, presumably from the wages he was earning each month.

@MyfanwyMontez firstly, sorry for your loss. Life sucks sometimes.

Secondly, I know someone who had a similar situation some years ago. They ended up suggesting to the solicitor that they instigated court proceedings, and that they should direct further correspondence to the deceased at plot x, cemetery y. That stopped it. It's amazing how they hound, but I suppose they deal with all sorts of excuses. You would think that a copy of a death certificate would be pretty unequivocal though.

No, it really isn't.

No they directed the funeral of @MyfanwyMontez 's partner's father. The partner entered into a financial agreement with them and incurred debts, then died.

Debts are not inheritable OP. If your partner owned any assets at all, even if just a computer, car or mobile, these should be sold to give his creditors some small amount towards their debt, but they will have to write off the remainder, they have no right to demand payment from you.

No assets means no savings or property or other significant items (expensive car for example). It doesnt mean phones or laptops! It doesnt mean a person literally doesnt own anything!

Of course phones and laptops are assets, along with cars (cheap ones as well as expensive ones). Assets would also include any bike, watch, wedding ring, other jewellery, clothes and personal effects - basically anything owned solely by the person owing the debt. The items do not need to be significant in themselves. They all add up.

As others have said, no-one will inherit the debt, but - unless they agree to write it off- the debt does need to be paid out of the OP’s partner’s assets, so some or all of them may need to be sold.

If he genuinely had nothing that could be sold to pay the debt, that is different, but as I said last night I’d be surprised if that were the case given that it is £800.

I would recommend the OP to take independent legal advice.

Does it really matter. You are being unkind to the OP.

many people have no savings. If one is on minimum wage it is impossible to save. Perhaps he spent all of his money on his child, new trainers etc. but it really is irrelevant to this post.

So as far as I can see

We have a 49 year old man with a teenage son so there was some sort of previous relationship that has broken down.
'
If he rented his home I can see why he hasnt built up much by the way of assets. He may well have his personal effects but these are in practice not worth much and of course his own funeral expenses are a priority debt against his estate.

BUT he has sufficient income to pay for his late fathers funeral

Makes perfect sense to me

OP doesn’t need to take advice - the debt isn’t in her name - it wasn’t addressed to her.