Am I reponsible for my mothers debts?

[ndclaret]

My mother died while in a rest home. I had been trying for the previous six months through a solicitor to go to the Court of Protection so I could sell her house to pay the home fees. When she died there was insufficient money to pay funeral costs or the solicitor fees and it turned out that she had made a will which left the house to my niece. My solicitor says that as the house was devised to my niece I am responsible for paying all of the debts and my niece is entitled to all the value of the house. Can this be possible?

[dzug]

The only way I can see that it could be possible is if you personally guaranteed to pay the care home bills.

Otherwise you either have a rogue solicitor or have misunderstood him.

[PrinceRainie]

have you been named in the will as a beneficiary of any kind or as a trustee/excecutor of the will?
Also, has there been a fall out between you and your mum? otherwise why was niece left house??
If you werent named as beneficiary or excecutor in the will and someone else was, then its is there responsibility to settle any outstanding liabilities prior to the remainder of the estate being divided up.

[ndclaret]

I was named as executor of the will. There was no fall out between my mother and myself. Strange to say but I had no knowledge of the will and my mother always said she would not make one. I only came across it after she entered the care home. It had been made in 1997. Under the terms of the will I was to get her cash and my niece the house. The cash was all used up however in paying home fees, funeral costs and the other debts which my mother had managed to accumulate. She had Alzhiemers and unknown to me had been buying goods from catalogues and various postal selling companies who kept inviting her to buy even though she owed them money. Although I saw her everyday it was only when I found a bailiffs letter that she had hidden that I realised the extent of her problem. She had placed the goods in an outside shed and were virtually ruined so could not be returned or sold. There are still the solicitors fees outstanding and although the house was sold as part of my mothers estate the solicitor insists that these do not have to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale but are to be settled by me. He claims that my niece is entitled to all of the proceeds of the house sale. Can someone leave an asset yet leave debts to be paid by someone else?

[dzug]

Well he may be right that they are to be settled by you but only from your mother's cash - once that has run out you have no further liability. His own bill takes precedence over some others - some of which shouldn't have been paid if the money has run out.

Did he pay them or did you?

[ndclaret]

He paid the funeral expenses out of the proceeds of the sale of the house after asking my permission on the telephone. I am puzzled as to how it can be possible to leave a house which was sold for �130000 and yet not have to have debts paid out of that money

After a bit checking on the net I have come across S34(3) Administration of Estates Act 1925 which appears to give an executor the right to use any property devised in a will to settle a deceased persons debts. Does anybody know anything about this act?

[PrinceRainie]

I would advise you to seek a second opinion from another solicitor....or maybe post a question on the law section.
It seems very unfair that you do not benefit from the estate and instead are left with all of the bills.
You seem to be very calm about it all which I admire...I would be absolutely fuming..!!
i wish you good luck...and keep us updated with what happens....x