Hi Dollar

I remember you coming on to the forum previously when your husband had been diagnosed. My sincere condolences for your loss.

I suspect that the letter you received from your Trustee may have been a standard template that they send out with all form 5s, as I can't see any reason why they would need to seek to claim PPI of they have already gathered in £60,000 more than the debts that here outstanding in the first place (assuming I have understood that correctly?).

In fact, you might want to contact them and hurry them along to paying the creditors and returning any leftover funds to you.

Thank you Kevin. They received the insurance cheque in November but only wrote to the creditors with the schedule of adjudications on 21 January. Meanwhile they will be benefitting from having 150k in their bank account.

Hi Dollar.

I'm very sorry to hear of the death of your husband.

On the subject of money held in your client account, please be assured that any interest paid would not be expected to benefit your trustee.

Hi Dollar

I'm not sure it's quite as simple as it may appear and the beneficiary of the policy will be a major factor.

If you were named as beneficiary and the policy paid out then the trustee would be entitled to the funds which would, in normal circumstances, have been paid to you. If this was the case then the funds should be allocated to your trust account only and used to pay your debts only and those held in joint names.

The only other scenario was that the trustee was beneficiary! The funds would then be used to clear the debts of your husband and the the balance transferred to you. Of course the trustee would be entitled to the surplus funds which would go to you.

I don't see a set of circumstances where the policy pays out and the funds are split to pay each set of creditors.

It sounds a bit more complicated than it possibly is, but you should double check the beneficiary position. It's further complicated by the debts of the estate being paid.

As for the time period, I think the trustee should have been able to provide a full accounting & breakdown by now to allow matters to settle one way or the other and I don't see how PPI can be an issue.

Mark

My husband left everything to me in his will. I can't remember what you call it, but the trustee had put something on the insurance policy preventing it being paid to me without the say so of the trustee. They had it paid to themselves. It was my solicitor that told me it had been paid to the trustee. I have had no communication from the trustee to say they have it and how they are going to deal with it. I know when I phoned to tell them my husband had died, they said the proceeds of the policy would be used to clear my husbands debt and what was left would come to me. I would then be deemed to have money and would be expected to use it to clear my debts.

Hi Dollar

I think it's extremely important that you find out who the beneficiary was. If it was you, as you describe, then the payment would be allocated solely to your trust deed, not your husbands and the funds used to clear your debts, not your husbands.

Mark

Hi Dollar

I've been doing a bit of digging about on this and you should certainly clarify the beneficiary position.

I'm disappointed that both the trustee and the solicitor ( no surprise!) appear to have followed the path of least resistance when dealing with things rather than look a bit closer at what may be a crucial point.

Mark

Dollar's post seems to suggest that she was the beneficiary of her husband's estate, rather than the actual named beneficiary on the life policy. It is a crucial difference, as if that is the case then the Trustee's actions would seem to be quite correct - the husband's debts would be repaid and then the surplus would be used to pay Dollar's sole debts.

However, it is a good point you make, Mark - it would be a good idea to double-check the life policy wording as if the beneficiary is actually Dollar then the Trustee should not be paying her husband's creditors with those funds.

Hi Kevin

I think it's always better to double check these things. I've seen too many things over the years where the default position is adopted for an easier life, when a bit of investigation can make a huge difference.

Mark

Hi Folks,

In a situation like this, assuming the worst case, would I be right in thinking that the total amount due to the trustee/creditors would be the total debt + interest + fees? If that is the case, surely the 150k + nearly 3 years of contributions would easily exceed the value of what's due?

Would it be possible for the trustee to increase his fees in any way when dealing with such a situation?

Hi SkintAlly

You are absolutely correct.

I can't think of any other work that would fall outwith the normal administration of the case which would have any great effect on the Trustee's fees. Plus fees can always be audited by the AIB.

It's just a pity that given the circumstances, the trust deed is not put to the tip of the pile for closure and i have absolutely no idea why the PPI issue is being pursued as it would be of no benefit to creditors.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for clarifying that. Not sure if I'm working this out correctly, but would the 90K + interest over three years be close to around 114k?

Apologies if it looks like I'm being nosey here. For the observant among us, you may have worked out where my interest comes from.

Ally

That figure might not be far away, SkintAlly, although it would depend upon whether any creditors insist on getting the original contractual rate of interest on the debt (which they are entitled to do) or are happy to receive the 8% standard judicial rate.