Thread: can you inherit debt

pretty self explanitary but Im a little concerned, this might sound really harsh but i have to think of my son. Ive been worried for a while about his dadslifestyle, constantly remortgaging to pay of credit card debts, putting off paying bills ect. whenever he's gone on about owning his house and how it will be left to our little one i just worry that little one will just be left with a tonne of debt.

these worries have got worse since a phone call earlier going on about sorting out when he'll have little one over christmas (barely at all which he usually wants him loads over this period) and saying how he's struggling and might loose the house.

again i know this might sound harsh but my main concern is that my innocent little boy will just be left with his dads debts because he never grew up and learnt how to handle his money (i know lots of people are struggling in this day and age and thats no judgement on anyone else but this is the case with his father as his priorities are always going down the pub and thinks he's clever ringing the bill companies and giving them a load of rubbish on why he cant pay until next month)

so yeah, am i worrying about nothing or can you inherit your parents debts? i live in the uk if thats any help

A family member of mine died with some debt, their daughter was asked to pay after their death but her husband simply told the company they weren't her debts and that they died with the mother. She didn't have to pay, in fairness I don't know what exactly the law is, maybe contact citizens advice?

Thanks Jenna, that sounds promising at least
I tried a search online, but it didn't bring up anything official looking.
Might have to go citizens advice but I've never had good experiences with them, pretty sure they'll tell me they can't help until that situation comes up.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/e...-mortgage.html

The answer is no, if your parents die in debt you don't inherit it. However if they have a mixture of assets and debts, the assets are used to pay off the debts and you only get what's left.

So if they die £10k in debt, you don't inherit it

If they die £10k in debt but have assets worth £15k, the debt would be paid off and you'd inherit £5k.

You can also inherit a properly that's still under debt eg a house where the mortgage is partly paid off but that's subject to you taking over the mortgage ie it's your choice if you want to take the debt on or not.

Originally Posted by jezzi999

Will our kids inherit mortgage? | This is Money

The answer is no, if your parents die in debt you don't inherit it. However if they have a mixture of assets and debts, the assets are used to pay off the debts and you only get what's left.

So if they die £10k in debt, you don't inherit it

If they die £10k in debt but have assets worth £15k, the debt would be paid off and you'd inherit £5k.

You can also inherit a properly that's still under debt eg a house where the mortgage is partly paid off but that's subject to you taking over the mortgage ie it's your choice if you want to take the debt on or not.

Thank you that's great.
The assets thing makes sense really and I'm not bothered about that, if he inherited the house I'd be happy for that to go to pay off any debts, it was just if he inherited the actually debts. As obviously that would mean years of us all struggling to get it paid off when its none of our faults, especially little ones.

post deleted.

I'm sorry but personally I don't care how old my son is, I wouldn't want him inheriting a bucket load of debt from his father. He's 4 now and yes its unlikely that his Dad will die any time soon, one it could happen any time and two even if my son is 30, 40, 50 years old I wouldn't want him to be stuck in that situation. I'd hate for him to end up with his own debts never mind someone else's.
I don't think there's anything wrong with just asking for someone's advice on the matter and it's helped as they have cleared up my worries. I care about my son and his well-being and that won't change even when he is old enough to look after himself.

Donna I dont think there is any harm at all looking into this, no matter how old your son is. It shows your a caring protective mother who is concerned about her sons welfare. My kids are 23 and 27 and id hate them to be worrying about things like this if anything ever happened to me or my OH. It also gives you piece of mind.

It's no different than parents writing a will and taking out life insurance incase something happens to them.

My husband lost his father when he was still a child. Accidents, suicides, cancers, all sorts of things happen unfortunately.

It is true anything can happen, my Dad died when I was 3 and my son's Dad is older then what he was and has a much worse life style. Age doesn't matter, people just want security for their children.

Anyway thanks everyone for your responses I'm feeling loads better about the situation

At the moment you can't inherit others debts but who's to say in the future it won't change.

Originally Posted by donna88

I'm sorry but personally I don't care how old my son is, I wouldn't want him inheriting a bucket load of debt from his father. He's 4 now and yes its unlikely that his Dad will die any time soon, one it could happen any time and two even if my son is 30, 40, 50 years old I wouldn't want him to be stuck in that situation. I'd hate for him to end up with his own debts never mind someone else's.
I don't think there's anything wrong with just asking for someone's advice on the matter and it's helped as they have cleared up my worries. I care about my son and his well-being and that won't change even when he is old enough to look after himself.

I am sorry, you have completely misunderstood what I meant. I didn't mean that you shouldn't ask for advice. I have removed my contribution as it has obviously upset you which was not my intention.

I'm sorry, didn't mean to come across as snappy or anything, so I apologise if I did. But I am glad I asked, yeah fair enough in a few years things could change, but at least for now I have some piece of mind about the whole situation.