Threatening my dead sister with court action.....

I can totally sympathise with this dreadful situation Anya . When my grandma died last year I immediately informed the local authority as she lived in one of their rented bungalows. A month after I cleared her little house I received a bill for 4 weeks full rent amounting to over £400 ! When I rang up to query it I was told that my grandmas housing benefit stopped the day she died and therefore full rent was payable for the 2 weeks it took me to clear the house, which was rounded up to the nearest month ! I was horrified. My grandma was a proud lady who never owed anyone anything in her lifetime so there was no way I was going to let her memory be blighted for £400 ( a lot of money to me) . My parents and I split the bill between us although I have since learned ( strangely they did not tell me at the time) that I could have signed a declaration that she effectively "died a pauper " without assets. Something that I probably wouldn't have done anyway. and

That's terrible Gilly

My advice would be to anyone in our position, don't give out you personal details, such as name, address, relationship to the deceased. Just inform of death and nothing else.

It's different if there's a genuine 'estate' involved of course.

If your grandmother had not had someone to clear her house they would have had to pay someone to do it.

Sefton council are not so quick off the mark when they owe money, despite notifying them of my husbands death in October, they have still not reduced my payments by the 25% reduction I am now entitled to. I queried this yesterday, and was told they would take it off next years bill in April, 5 months afer his death!

Ask them to send that confirmation to you in an email queenM

That is awful gilly- but in Switzerland you can only give notice 4 times a year at official dates. My dad died just after 1 of the dates, so we had to pay, by law, for the next 3 months rent. As it happened, we found someone to take over the lease at the end of the first month- so only had to pay for 4 weeks.