My brother-in-law has borrowed money from my mother-in-law to buy a new car. She is terminally ill, and hasn’t kept a record of his repayments. If she were to die before he paid back the outstanding amount what would happen? Would he be legally obliged to pay the money back to her estate?
It depends whether there was any record of the loan in the first place. It’s possible your brother-in-law would argue that the money had been a gift, and if no documentation could be produced to the contrary the courts would agree with him. A note of repayments made would help your mother-in-law’s executors prove the existence of a loan, in which case he would have to repay the money to the estate. It’s as well to have such agreements set out in writing, even among family members.