Executor of will and car finance

[Notsurehowtofeel2025]

I'm looking for some advice. I was the executor of my dad's will, he died in 2024. His finances were a mess and after funeral expenses etc there was no estate left. He had a car on finance that he had given to his gf. When he died there was still outstanding payments to be made. The finance company asked for the payments or the car back. I told them I'd never had possession of the car and gave them the details of who had it so they could collect. She initially agreed to me that she'd return the car but has since gone off the radar and hasn't returned the car, the finance company have been unable to collect it. They now want to issue me with a seizure notice to go down a legal route despite them acknowledging that I've never had the car.
what do I do here? Report the gf to the police for theft?

Hi I work for a car finance company they will obtain a return of goods order against the third party that has the car if its possible usually during this process most people hand the car back as they don't want any type of money judgement against them . If they won't hand it back or the judge does grant one then you will not be liable to pay or impacted in any way. It may just be a nuisance receiving letters til its resolved one way or another x you can try and report it to the police but they mostly say it's a civil matter the finance company can also try and report as stolen x

This is all true x

Not necessarily. The finance company can find that the estate is insolvent, and then the rules are similar to bankruptcy. This becomes an issue if money or items were distributed to the beneficiaries before every debt was resolved. Then the company can go to court to require the beneficiaries to return the money that was incorrectly distributed to them. Hopefully, the etc in the OP's original post doesn't mean that money was distributed to beneficiaries. Also, the amount of funeral expenses have to be proportional to the size of the estate - again hopefully the deceased didn't have an inflated funeral that ate disproportionately into the funds the estate needed to pay debt.

Does the GF legally own the car? If so, as the debt was secured on the car, the finance company will need to go after her, as, while the secured debt should be the first one to be settled, this is done by the sale/surrender of the secured item, which you can't do if you don't have access to it.

If the GF doesn't legally own the car, but it is unavailable to repay the debt, then the finance company may go after the estate if they think it's worth their while. And you would need to be a party to that, as the executor of the will. You would need to demonstrate why you were unable to secure the property as per your obligations as an executor. It's unlikely to get that far, but if the GF was refusing to return the car, then it would be stolen from the estate and may result in criminal proceedings against her.

She means she’s not responsible for paying the debt herself. She didn’t give the car away, her father did.

They can’t. It’s not her debt it was her father’s debt.

Can the OP even report the car as stolen? She doesn't own it and has no paperwork for it. I'm not sure the police would even take a report from her in those circumstances.

Debts dont die - they are paid for out of the estate

this isn’t a debt - it’s goods not paid for

Had a similar situation, managing an insolvent estate of a family member who died unexpectedly. The debt does die with the person, there are some posters on here talking rot. Whatever you do, don't agree to putting your name down as liable for anything. Reiterate what you've already said; although you are managing the estate, there are no funds. Tell them what you've already said, re they can collect the car, you don't know where it is etc. Lots of creditors that should know better tried to get me to take liability for my family members debt. I ended up having to call several of them and be passed from one person to another but reiterated that there is no money in the estate to repay any debts. I ended up crying on the phone due to the horrible situation, and that was often the point that they stopped reading from a script and started treating me like a human being. Sad state of affairs really. Stick to your guns, you've done everything right, but be careful not to let them put your name on the liability.

Since your father gave the car to his girlfriend, it is highly unlikely the police will get involved. They will regard this as a civil matter.

Assuming this was a hire purchase agreement or a personal lease, the finance company can take the car. They cannot take anything else. You told them how to recover the car, so you won't be personally liable.

Yes absolute rot. if there is no estate (as the OP confirmed in the first post) then the debts do die with the person. The executor(s) is NOT under any circumstances personally liable for paying any debts.

When I administered a will - creditors only had 6 months to come forward

You can’t be held personally accountable for this - the estate would be In deficit not you

Correct. And if there is NO ESTATE as in this case, the debts die with the deceased.

I know it's hard to imagine for some people who have benefited from large inheritances from boomer generation family members that made huge profits on property, but nowadays, lots of people die whilst renting with their salary the only source of income, like the person I was recently executor for. In this case, whatever is in their current account is used tonapy for funerals expenses and, usually, is not even sufficient for that. In this case there is NO ESTATE and debts are written off.

@ithinkiveseenthisfilm
OP clearly said in her original post, that the car had been given to GF by OPs father BEFORE he died !

I think the issue in this case might be that the car is still held in the name of the dad in which case as the executor of his estate the op is responsible for dealing with all assets and this is his asset if it was still in his name. That will be why the seizure notice is going against the op as the executor

There's a bit of confusion on this thread between the obligations of the executor and that of the deceased's relative. Posters are right, the relative cannot be liable for the debts of the deceased (except in certain cases), however the executor can be liable for mishandling the estate, and this can make the executor liable for payments.

The order that estates have to fulfil their obligations is

1. Secured debt - arrangements have to be made for the security to be returned or the balance to be paid off
2. Funeral Expenses
3. Expenses incured from the administration of the estate
4. Unsecured debt
5. Interest due on debt
6. Informal debt (e.g. loans between family members)
7. Disbursal of bequests, etc.

The duty of the executor is to disburse the estate according to the obligations and wishes of the deceased. So in this case, the executor would have been expected to secure the car on being notified that the person was deceased. The car would then either be returned to the finance company or sold to settle the debt.

The executor is also duty bound to exercise items 2 and 3 with due regard for the size of the estate and debts. So if a person dies with a £10,000 estate and £50,000 debts, having a £10,000 funeral would be unreasonable, and the creditors could pursue a claim against the executor. Also, if the executor disbursed funds to beneficiaries before debts were settled, the creditors could pursue a claim against the executor.
Finally, these obligations have to be met in the order above, so if the executor has settled unsecured debts before the secured debt was settled, then the secured creditor would also have a claim against the estate (and therefore the executor). It sounds like this might have happened here. So what might happen is that the finance company pursues the executor (who should have access to the car assuming ownership remained with the deceased) and the executor has to pursue the person currently in possession of the car.

Yes we understand this but surely he can’t be held accountable for his father giving the car away…there must be some legal way he can cover himself

It depends if the father gave the car away (as in transferring the legal ownership and finance agreement) or not. It sounds like the father didn't - he just gave the car to his GF and continued to pay the finance agreement. In that case, the estate is liable, as the car is an asset owned by the estate. So the executor needs to return the car or pay for it with the proceeds of the estate - the executor didn't, as the funeral expenses were paid first - exhausting the estate, which was an incorrect administration of the estate.

The car finance company is perfectly entitled to serve a seizure notice on the executor, the executor can then serve a notice on the person who is currently keeping the car. That's the legal coverage....

But the bank usually release funeral expenses before you start to administer estate…so how can you be held accountable?

it’s still the deceased that gave car away - I just can’t see how the executor would become personally liable given the circumstances

Imagine if the deceased hadn't died. He'd signed the car finance, allowed the girlfriend to take the car. She'd done a runner with the car. The deceased would be liable for the continued payments, though they didn't have possession of the car. If the "deceased" decided to stop paying, then the finance company could make a seizure order on them for the car or the remaining balance. It would be for them to go after the person who actually was in possession of the car.

It's no different here. Unfortunately the deceased did something a bit daft, which has created the situation, and the executor is stuck untangling it.

In the legal ideal world, possession of the car would be secured by the estate on death, and the car would be returned to the finance company, ending the secured loan. There's no need for funds to be disbursed.

Yes exactly whereas the executor would just say it’s not in the estates possession and he has found out the deceased had given it away and back that up with paperwork

plus there is a massive time delay - creditors need to come forward within 6 months

I think the seizure notice is to help you OP

I’m sure you only need to do what’s reasonable

ye did report and serve her with the notice

This is correct. The posted saying you can be pursued for the debt is incorrect - as you say, the only way executors can be held liable is if they distributed in the incorrect order (ie before settling debts) or in some other way dealt with the estate incorrectly. If the estate is simple insolvent you’re not liable as it’s not as if you’re supposed to deal with this out of your own funds.

They prob do need to issue a seizure notice, but addressed to the gf, categorically not to you.

Yes this too - this is why things get posted in the Gazette - to give creditors the chance to come forward within a specific timeframe.