Insurance, Will’s & Probate

The reason for this entry is to make people aware or reminder about will’s and insurances.

Sean didn’t have any life insurance when he died, obviously he couldn’t get any once he was diagnosed with Myeloma.  he used to have a life insurance policy, but being a young chap he decided to cancel it, as he was paying money out for nothing, or so he thought at the time.  It was a big regret of his, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

So for the healthy ones out there if you haven’t got life insurance i would recommend you get some sort of cover, obviously if you have been diagnosed with Cancer you will be in the same boat as Sean was.  But to give you an idea of cost at least in the UK a standard funeral is £3300, this is not cheap and it is not something you want to be struggling to find as you want to do the right thing for your loved one at the end!

There are a few thing you may need to sort out for when this day does come up, I know everyone skirts around this in some way, I know as me and Sean were very open about the end, but even Sean kept a few thing back and I wish he hadn’t as I may of been able to help?  What I am talking about is the financial situation that terminally ill people have to deal with.

One being the loss of income when they finish work, but bills don’t stop coming in, so this only adds to the pressure for the one who is sick.  They not only have to deal with this disease and try to get better, but they have to worry about finding money to pay bills.  Personally I find the system in the UK disgusting they way no one is there to help, when you are first told about getting a terminal cancer.  I know there are a lot of charities and that type of thing.  But know one seems to help with the financial side of thing.  In my mind once you are given this kind of news a personal  financial expert should get in contact with you. To go through your financial situation, and get all the forms filled in so you can claim for what ever you are entitled to. and to make sure you are in the best financial health you can be, with no surprises at the end.  The UK is meant to be one of the best places in the world to get help with health situations?  That's my little rant over with!

The reason for it was that Sean was stuck financially no money coming in or very little, as Charito was out working with three jobs just keep them going.  But it seems that this may not have been enough? As Sean had re-mortgaged the house to get some more money in, this is the bit I was totally unaware of!  I had no idea he had dug such a big hole.  I understand why he did it, to try and live!  But this is why some financial help would have been nice.

So Charito is now left with a large mortgage (or maybe) with only a low income coming in.
The reason I say maybe is that in the UK we have a thing called Probate, this normally only kicks in if there wasn’t a will made, fortunately Sean had done a will but he made a mistake in not putting Charito down on the mortgage, this means we have to go through probate with the government to ascertain who is the rightful person of Sean estate.

The word estates means all of Sean’s assets the big one is the house, these are then put against all Sean’s debts the big one being the mortgage.  this is all calculated together and you are left with a figure of possible profit someone could have if they sold everything and then paid off all debts.  If you have more than £300’000 you will then be hit for a inherency tax.  Obviously Sean’s estate is nothing close to that, but you may need to check this on your own situation.

This process is something we could have done without as if Sean had Charito on the mortgage, the house payment would just have transferred to her, I am sure that the probate will go through without too much of a problem.   It is a small fee, but without it the banks cannot talk to us about Sean’s property.  Again if there was someone to explain this before hand it would of been nice!  This now leaves us trying to get a large mortgage for Charito on a low income? I will do my damnedest to keep Charito in the house she shared with Sean, this is what he wanted!

Now to close this very long update, the thing I want you to take away is this.
If you have insurance keep it.
Get financial advice before it is too late.
Discus with your loved ones any possible problems that may come to light after you have gone, forewarned is forearmed.

No one wants the end to come, but talking over your money worries  with someone may lift a little burden that you don’t need right now.  It may make you feel a little better for awhile and improve your quality of life.  You don’t need money worries making you ill too.

If anyone in the UK needs help with Probate let me know and I will try and point you in the right direction, or anyone if you think I might be able to help, just ask if I don’t know I will tell you.

Thanks
Nigel