Probate and debts

[Another2Cats]

My DF passed away very suddenly a few days ago, he was in his 80s.

I'm an executor of his will and, anyway, my DM understandably can't face dealing with stuff at the moment.

So we've been going through all his paperwork to get his affairs sorted out and came across a rather large credit card debt. The credit card company has now been informed and they have closed the account and frozen the interest.

But I wonder, what will happen next?

The estate won't be affected by Inheritance Tax and my DF had no savings to mention (the cash in his account won't even cover the cost of the funeral). His will leaves everything to DM.

My parents own their house and they are/were tenants in common (so they each own 50% rather than equally owning all of it).

I would guess that the credit card company will put a charge on the property, but I'm just worried, would they try to force a sale of the property to recover the money? Or would they wait until my DM passed away or the house was sold?

Has anyone had any experience of this before?

how much is a big debt?

20k

would seek legal advice, possibly start with citizen advice and see what they say.

Sorry for your loss and what a blow to find this debt and have to deal with this and the worry from it.

When did you alert the CC of the death of your father?

https://nationaldebtline.org/fact-sheet-library/debts-after-death-ew/#:~:text=type%20of%20help.-,What%20happens%20to%20credit%20debts%20after%20death%3F,be%20recovered%20from%20their%20estate.

this may be useful to read

and contact them if you need further advice

The credit card company may just have noted the death and frozen interest pending more information on if there are monies in the estate (a lot of companies pause debt accounts for 3 months to allow family to start getting things in order) Their bereavements team can advise what they do if there are no monies to cover the debt and any next steps. As executor if you speak to them before taking legal advice which can be costly to you, their decision is often on a case by case. You can also request a copy of the land registry to see if they already have a charge on the house.

@MikeRafone He died on Wednesday and we notified the credit card company today.

@Avidreader12 Thank you for your suggestion, I have already done this and there are no charges on the home. I think he was in some sort of arrangement with the credit card company and was paying it off at an agreed rate - lower than the usual minimum payment.