Paying mortgage and council tax after a bereavement

[MelbourneWay]

Asking for a friend who has a three year old daughter. Her partner passed away recently, it was somewhat unexpected. They had a mortgage together. She is on universal credit getting about £600 per month which comprises the standard allowance and support for one child. She can just about live on that but can't pay the mortgage or council tax at the moment. Mortgage and council tax also come to about £600 per month. Is there any help that she can get for the mortgage and council tax whilst she is waiting for probate?

There is some help with mortgage interest but it's a loan and I think there's a 9 month wait before you can qualify (off top of my head)
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/support-for-mortgage-interest-smi/support-for-mortgage-interest-smi/deciding-if-you-should-apply-for-smi/

Depending on how much equity is in the house, she could consider buying a shared ownership property - the equity could pay for the share that she owns and she could claim the housing element of UC for the rent.

Basically yes. Unless there is any money left as part of the estate which can be used to pay off the mortgage.

MelbourneWay

Was the mortgage in joint names? Could your friend ask for the mortgage time to be lengthened? Could your friend take in a lodger to help with the mortgage payment?

Otherwise it maybe a case of your friend getting more work eventually to cover the mortgage herself

Or selling the flat if there isn’t any life insurance... sorry

There is help, but only in the form of a loan secured against the property. That is why you are strongly advised to have adequate life insurance.

Please see my post above about looking for a policy, and about checking for an employer pension scheme. These would be the best things to help your friend.

Some employers have death in service, would this applie to your friend op?

Sorry about your friend, it is tough. She really needs to make an appointment to see the mortgage broker, ask what they can offer and they can trace any insurance policies. She also needs to inform the council, maybe you could Google the Tell Us once site, there is also information on the Gov.UK site site about benefits following a death. His employers will know if he paid into a pension and if she benefits from this. I doubt there will be state help to pay towards a mortgage.

Unfortunately this is exactly the situation that life insurance is for. It’s like not getting Car insurance, having a crash and then moaning that no one will buy you a new car.
It’s awful to lose a partner but there should be things she can do but they require her to actually go through everything, contact people and let them know she is widowed etc

This is a good website. www.turn2us.org.uk/Your-Situation/Bereaved
Can you and other friends look through it and help your friend with her admin?. My dh died suddenly. It's hard to sensibly get on with admin and sort everything out when you're in shock and dealing with children who have just lost their dad's shock. Some of the people writing things like "I'm surprised she hasn't done this" etc are perhaps not grasping this.
I'll forever be grateful to friends and my sister who supported me and helped me and did things for me. I'll also remember my parents causing me more work and stress and being as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

If she is unsure if there was life insurance/mortgage protection a good place to start is by looking at the bank statements.

As pp said contact his employer and see if they have death in service cover. If he was in a union contact them too as sometimes there is cover provided by them as part of the membership.

There are some good links above, and it's so hard to think clearly when you are going through a bereavement.

You are a good friend to try and help her.

We had life insurance so i was able to pay off my mortgage but I've heard of people who didn't get life insurance money as their dh committed suicide or they were unable to get a preexisting medical condition covered. It seems a shame if your friend can't get help with her own mortgage but can get help paying a landlord's mortgage so she has the stress of moving and selling and uprooting herself and her dc at a time like this. It may not be a quick process either. My children benefited from the stability of staying in our home when they lost their dad. I feel desperately sorry for your friend and the extra stress she will have. For 70 years the NI contributions the deceased parent had made (which they will never gain a state pension from) went towards widowed parents allowance until the child was 18 but now that's been scrapped and you only get a small amount for 18 months. So when a parent dies the country profits from the dead parent's NI payments. Lovely. They say you can judge a country on how it cares for its weakest members. Plenty of money to squander on brexit of course!

Thanks for the further comments. AnneWeber understands the current situation and how difficult it is to do even simple things after a bereavement.

Unfortunately my friend has no idea what the will says and her partner’s solicitor just keeps on saying that she has to wait until probate. Is there any way to find out what is in a will before probate is granted?

Oh god I am so sorry she is going through this and good for you for helping. Having recently lost both parents and as executor I had so much to deal with when in shock/grief and it sometimes just impossible. I don’t judge her at all for not having done things.

Can you offer to go round and be there to help? You could actually make calls with her there to help with answers etc. If they speak to her so she confirms you will take over the call for her ? A friend did this for me one awful day when I absolutely had to deal with my mums bank but just couldn’t face it.

There’s great advice here. Support to you too - it’s tough looking after someone struggling.

So sorry to hear this. Presumably she isn’t the executor hence why they won’t tell her what’s in the will. It’s not the case at all that people “usually” take out life insurance with a mortgage. Unless there is very little equity in the property it’s not something the mortgage company will insist on.

As a pp said she should make sure she is getting the maximum benefits she is entitled to. There is unfortunately very little help for mortgage payment. Sorry op and to your friend.

Does she have access to his email? If so I would suggest searching his email as his solicitor may well have emailed a copy of the will when it was being prepared. She could also search his email for anything from life insurance companies or old bank accounts.
Unfortunately mortgage protection insurance and life insurance are normally done separately to, although often at the same time as, a mortgage, so the mortgage company may well not know about any policies.

Has she contacted any pensions that he had including from old jobs? Defined benefit pensions usually have a spouse's pension and defined contribution pensions often pay out the value of the pot even if they don't pay out a multiplier of salary as lump sum. This site has useful info on finding pension schemes. I would also try all the other tracing sources mentioned in that article as you never know, he might have things like old premium bonds bought for him as a child.

Has she had her universal credit reassessed since his death?

Was he in regular employment as an employee?

There may be a pension that she is entitled to as a beneficiary. Does she know if a pension that he held?

Thanks for the good idea HeronLanyon, unfortunately I don’t live nearby, but I might have to do just that. It does not help that these kind of companies are normally closed at weekends.

Thanks Zsazsajuju, unfortunately the executor is the solicitor. My friend has been to the solicitor’s office three times and has got no help at all apart from the statement that she had to wait until probate and that in the meantime she needed to make sure the mortgage was paid.

Unfortunately my friend has no idea what the will says and her partner’s solicitor just keeps on saying that she has to wait until probate.

Yes tough you are at distance. I also found on days when I was together enough to get stuff done lots of things resulted in being put off or contact wasn’t in office etc etc. Was hard to be efficient and crack on when I had headspace.

Unfortunately my friend has no idea what the will says and her partner’s solicitor just keeps on saying that she has to wait until probate.
Sorry, posted too soon earlier. I'm sorry to hear about your friend's loss. Can I ask, how long were they together? It's odd that she doesn't know the details of any life insurance policies, for example. Also, do you know why she doesn't know the content of his will? I'm also wondering whether his own family (parents/siblings) could shed light on some of these issues. Are they helping her at all?

Is there no one else closer who can help her? I find it strange and sad that it's been 3 months since he died, and none of her family or friends have helped her sort out practical things? Does she not have supportive people around her or has she been pushing them away because of her grief?

I wonder if there is a bereavement charity that might be able to help her if there are local volunteers.

It is very sad to think that they were in a long time relationship and had a child together but don't seem to have put in place anything to protect each other (and by extension the child) in case of anything like this... wills with each other as executor and beneficiary, ensuring they both have a copy or know where to find them, mortgage/life insurance, etc. Obviously this is no help to the OP but if there is anyone reading who hasn't done this I hope it will spur them on to get it sorted.

Thanks for the further replies. Her partner was wealthy and had a business and another property, but he was a private person. I can’t really say more as it would make the thread identifiable. He had always said to go to the solicitor if anything happened to him, but his passing was unexpected and he did not have the chance to say goodbye or pass on further information.

my friend has no idea what the will says and her partner’s solicitor just keeps on saying that she has to wait until probate

This would be very odd but with your update it makes a bit more sense. Sounds like a set-up where she and her child are maybe a bit of a secret? I would be very worried for her. If she was named in the will the solicitor should at least be able to tell her she is a beneficiary. How can she be on the mortgage without knowing about life insurance etc? How long ago was the flat bought?

Ultimately I think she might need to resign herself to the idea the flat might need to be sold. If her wealthy partner hasn’t left her any provision, and it’s being handled by an executor solicitor I’m assuming there are other beneficiaries (other family?) and it’s complicated.

Does she have contact with his family? Who arranged the funeral etc?

The fact that he was wealthy makes it even worse that he's left her in this position If he hasn't left her anything, I wonder if he's left it to the child in trust - in which case she should be a trustee but might not be I suppose?

When my husband died suddenly the probate lawyers were extremely helpful, took all his files and went through them to find all the financial details. They were not executors. I already knew the contents if his will, bar some finer details.
As devastating as this kind of loss is, she needs to get herself together to deal with everything- as she has found out putting her head in the sand has only caused more difficulty.
In fact I found having to deal with it all helped keep me busy and it was almost like it was designed that way so I could deal with it all while still in shock and grieve afterwards when it really hit me. I got my kids to school the next day and after informing everyone (awful awful) got down to business. Their was no life insurance for the mortgage - but the bank said they'd give me a six months break, and as I told them I'd have to sell did not take my husbands name off (as I wouldn't have qualified for the mortgage on my own). The credit card company not so generous it was his account so they cancelled the card immediately. Our bank account was frozen so no direct debits would be paid so had to do some Ringing around to explain. They were fine but it meant sending alot of death certificates out. We paid quarterly for most utilities and I think I was just lucky there wasnot any immediate payments due. He did have a death in service which was his salary and he paid extra to get the maximum payout (about twice his salary but he was a high earner). Until that came through his work gave me a loan against final salary payment so I could pay immediate bills and for the funeral.
I'm surprised the solicitor has not been more helpful, but there might be more to it. The council and mortgage company might have been if she had informed them before she missed any payments.
After my experience I advised anyone to have three months emergence fund to pay bills, food, rent/mortgage. You never know what can happen.

Hi NoSquirrels and AnotherEmma, I should probably clarify, she knows what he told her was in the will, but the solicitor is not confirming what is in the will, which is understandably making her anxious.