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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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.
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.
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.