Help!! Can you will someone a debt?

[redtiger]

Can anyone tell me if you can leave a mortgage debt in a will? My mortgage guarantor recently passed away and has left me with his half of the mortgage debt. Should the estate pay off half of the mortgage? He had no life assurance but plenty of assets. I don't have enough money to keep the mortgage by myself and it expires in March

 

[Sherman]

Your post isn't very clear. Was this person a co-mortgagee, i.e. were they listed on the deeds, and were they paying half the mortgage? In this case, the bank would almost certainly have insisted that they take out a mortgage protection policy on the mortgage, which would pay out in the event of their death.

If they are only a guarantor, they were just that - a guarantee to the bank that if you couldn't pay, they would step in and pay on your behalf. Normally a guarantor doesn't pay anything off a mortgage unless the person in whose name the mortgage is cannot pay the monthly payments.

What do you mean when you say it expires in March - does the mortgage expire in March?

 

[mf1]

Can you clarify? Your position is very unclear. Is this a private residence or an investment?

Did you jointly own a house with someone and did they own half the house and owe half the mortgage?

Or did you own the house with a big mortgage and they were the guarantor but had no financial interest in the house? ( Except you seem to indicate that they were paying half the mortgage?)

And if the first is the case, then can you sell the house, redeem the entire mortgage and take your equity?

And what do you mean "it expires in March" ? What expires in March?

Someone might be able to advise you with a little more information.

mf

 

[Ravima]

I agree with the other two providers, your question is unclear. However, you cannot will a debt. All debts must be cleared by the estate, they cannot be willed to anyone. if tehre are not enough assets, then they are divided and all creditors would get so many cents in the euro.

 

[MOB]

"However, you cannot will a debt. All debts must be cleared by the estate, they cannot be willed to anyone."

I think it might be no harm to add some clarification to this. Technically, it is feasible to will a debt, in the sense of making a particular beneficiary liable for it (out of the assets being received by that beneficiary - obviously no beneficiary would accept a nett liability); for example "I give my investment property at XXXXXXX to X subject to and charged with repayment of the AIB mortgage loan secured upon it"

Regarding redtigers original query. it is most unclear, but by way of general observation only:

1. When you guarantee a debt, your liability does not die with you. Your estate can be called on to honour the guarantee.

2. If the deceased was in fact making half the payments on a mortgage, there is a strong legal argument that the deceased was acquiring a beneficial interest in the property (even if this is not reflected in the title deeds).

3. Does redtiger own all of the property but want the deceased's estate to pay for half of it (by discharging half the mortgage)? This sounds like it would be highly unusual. I think it will be an uphill battle unless there is some explicit written agreement whereby the deceased in effect undertook to pay for half the mortgage(without acquiring a half interest in the property)

4. If the deceased owned a half share of the property, then it would likewise be highly unusual for a situation to emerge where the estate had a half interest in the property, but did not assume reponsiblity for half the mortgage.

these are general observations only; as other posters say, there is not enough detail to be able to give a full answer.

 

[RainyDay]

I understand that where a trust is set up to own family assets, any debts that the trust bear will survive death and be passed onto the next generation.