Death of FIL and debts - advice please!

[LaraWearsZara]

FIL recently passed away ( 5 weeks ago).
Today my husband has found a letter from Ovo stating he owes £3600.
We also believe he had other debs and CCJs but we have no idea on the amounts.
My SIL used the Tell us Once service but citizens advise told me today they don't notify people he owes money to and that's our responsibility.
His only estate is the £6000 in his bank when he died (which the bank have already sent to SIL and she has split in half with my husband) and a potential £10k life insurance claim. He privately rented and had nothing else, no valuables and so on.
We are really worried that we may get chased up for money and Citizen's Advise have recommend we register his death in The Gazette. It's going to cost £100 to do it (fine). But nobody I'm talking to seems to have heard of this and are saying pretty much just leave it, he didn't own a lot anyway and this is more for people with large estates.
We want to do the right thing I'm just not sure what that is?
Also there is an option on The Gazette to use the forwarding address service so our address doesn't get disclosed but again this doubles the cost of the notice to almost £200 and we aren't sure how necessary it is
We are so clueless, I'd be really grateful for any advice. The lady at Citizen's Advice was lovely but admitted she got all her advice off the internet as it was a new one to her!
Thanks

Debt are paid first in general and in a special order, this is something the executor of your FILs will should have done, was that your SIL?
I wouldn't touch any of the money until you get further guidance as you could very well be expected to pay it back to your FILs debtors.

Was there a will? With an executor? Or did he die intestate? His estate needs to be used to pay off the debts but once it's gone it's gone, you aren't liable for them. But sil May have been a bit hasty divvying out the money.

Sorry, ment paid to your FILs creditors.

I don't think there's an executor? Certainly no will.
The bank asked DH and SIL to take his death certificate in branch which they did. Within 2 weeks his 6k had been transferred to my SIL and she sent 3k to DH.
Neither of them have touched it.

TBH , I wouldn't bother paying any of them . Write on envelope Addresse Deceased and return to sender. They may send further letters to see if any estate left. The answer is NO . Unlikely to pursue this amount, so probably write it off . The CJJ can not be enforced on anyone else as not your debt .

Their should be an administrator at least to deal with your FILs assessment ( the money ) and an advert taken out in the gazette because that money is supposed to cover his debts in a certain order before any inheritance is shared.

I would get the advert put up op because his creditors may have recourse to take it back.

The first amount to be paid is always the funeral. How much was that. It's deducted from the £6k.

Any assets that were solely in his name can be used to pay debts.

I would contact ovo and advise them that he is dead. Ask them to write off the debt.

You can’t pocket the money and tell the businesses he had no money , the money should be used to pay off any debts .

We used a probate service.

My dad had a car. And an insurance policy for his funeral. And loads of debt.

Effectively all of the money was pooled. Am advert was out in the gazette and all known creditors were contacted.

The money was released (if I remember correctly) in this order:
Funeral
Probate fees
Hmrc/priority debts
Any other debt.

There was enough money for the funeral and the probate fees.

I had one meeting with the solicitor, a few phonecalls and it was all sorted. So if recommend getting a professional in.

Age U.K. have some really good guides that your DH and SIL need to work through

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/what-to-do-when-someone-dies/when-someone-dies-information-guide/

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs14dealinggwithannestate_fcs.pdf

They'll need to:

• Value the assets taking into account any debt
• apply for a grant of representation if needed, I suspect it wouldn't be needed as the assets once you deduct debt is likely to be classed as a small estate
• apply for probate. Once granted you can distribute the estate but it has to be in a specific order and debts are paid before any leftover is distributed (section 8.2 of second link provided)

Probably cost £6000 for the funeral.

Thanks for the advice, it really is helpful.
He had a Sunlife funeral plan which paid out £4455. The funeral was around £200 over this which we paid ourselves.
Will an advert in The Gazette be enough? Apart from Ovo, we have no clue who else he owed what to and he was in a rental so we have no access to his post

If you have his bank statements you could probably get a fairly accurate view of who he had accounts with and made payments and then contact them with a copy of the death certificate. It would save you needing to wait 2 months wondering who might come out of the woodwork.

Debtors are paid first so I wouldn’t touch the £3k until you have settled any outstanding bills.

Generally with the exception of a funeral plan any remaining estate (money or assets) would go towards paying off the debt if ordered. However if there is no will and no estate most Debt collection agencies will accept a copy of the death certificate to right off anything owed.

I wouldn’t bother putting anything in a paper. I would just contact the one you know about to advise that FIL is deceased. Enclosed a copy of death certificate. Do the same for any others that come out the woodwork as an when they do.

Your not responsible to pay his debts.

The £6000 must be used to clear the debts in the order someone posted above. You aren't responsible for the debts but his estate is. Once the money from the estate is used up, there is no further liability from you and the debts will be written off. You can claim any of your own expenses from the estate also before clearing the debts.

As someone suggested, have a look through the bank statements for any debt payments. Also can you set up a post redirection from his address to yours to catch any chasing letters?

Probate is not needed for a low value estate - the bank and life insurance have already released the funds without probate.

This is really helpful, thank you so much!

I sorted my dads estate of a similar size.

You need to look at his bank statements and his post to see what is owed. 5 weeks isn't long at all for all this to become clear.

If he was getting a pension there may be some to pay back. Council tax accounts etc will need balancing as well.

Be warned that some creditors may try to pressure you personally for any debt if the estate doesn’t cover it. You’re not liable but they may try to make out you are. My SIL experienced this after FIL unexpectedly died. Tell them to get on their bikes.