Death of guarantor

Death of guarantor

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An individual who guaranteed a lessee's obligations under a lease of land has died.

Can the landlord proceed against the guarantor's estate (effectively the widow) in respect of breaches of lease covenants either before or after his death?

Or does death extinguish the guarantee altogether?
henry williamson

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By AnonymousUser
18th Dec 2005 10:56

a guarantor's obligations survive his death
As with other contractual obligations, a guarantor's obligations survive his death and become obligations of his estate (unless the terms of the guarantee state otherwise).

However, the death of a guarantor will not automatically trigger the enforcement of the guarantee (unless the terms of the guarantee explicitly state this - which is rare). Generally, a guarantee can't be called upon until there is a default by the original contracting party.

Contact me if I can be of any further assistance.

Ray


Ray Levy
Levy & Co, solicitors
[email protected]
020 7993 8052

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By AnonymousUser
19th Dec 2005 09:12

But...

...what if the default occurs:

(i)after the death of the guarantor;

or

(ii) after the estate has been administered?

There would have been no cause of action at the date of death in these cases.

If the guarantee is not extinguished by death, when does it expire?

Can the landlord pursue the widow forever?

Is there anything the executors or the beneficiaries can do to bring the guarantee to an end?

Henry Williamson
(Worried friend of the widow)

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By carnmores
19th Dec 2005 13:07

Check again
most guarantees i have seen say something about death, usually that it lapses on death.

it is possible that the solicitor drawing this up was negligent, how unusual would that be.

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By frauke
06th Dec 2005 18:21

death and guarentees
I think the guarentee ceases with death - but not as a cancellation but to allow enforcement. In the case of a lease I think the landlord can proceed against the estate immediately as I think "in theory" the death causes a breach as the guarentee can no longer continue.

When I first was in practice, my father guarenteed my business overdraft. When he died they put a claim into the estate for full settlement of the overdraft even though I was still trading. I had to make other arrangements straight away to stop them from putting a claim.

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By User deleted
07th Dec 2005 09:00

There is no general answer
as it depends on the terms of the guarantee. This is a strictly a legal question, but if the guarantee were on behalf of himself and his estate, presumably it would continue to have validity even after death.

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