paying utility bills for an estate

Here are my next set of questions.
Mother in law MIL (deceased) owned a house in her name where she lived in before moving into a nursing home - fortunately she did not have to sell the house but used other sources of funds to pay for the non-refundable deposit to the nursing home. When she still lived in the house, brother in law BIL divorced his wife and moved back home to live and has been living in the house continuously since then and paying no rent.
After MIL moved into the nursing home, we decided that BIL should at least pay for the outgoings (such as electricity, telephone + internet, water, unsure about council rates and house insurance) and he agreed. The name on these bills has remained to be in MIL's name, BIL receives the bills and pays them - some bills are directly debited from MIL's bank account.
BIL has been told that he must move in the next 6 to 9 months so that the house can be fixed and put on the market for sale as part of the estate.
Questions:
1. Do we have to change all the above utility bills from MIL's name to BIL's name, now that MIL deceased? BIL said he phoned these utility companies but they said they would not change them into his name. Or, the bills can stay in the deceased's name, as long as BIL continues to pay for all the bills until he no longer lives there?
2. Council rates and house insurance bills - which have been paid directly from the deceased bank accounts, these accounts will be frozen by the banks when the death certificate is issued. How does the estate pay for these, as a bank account set up by the executor cannot be done until after the Grant of Probate?
Thanks in advance for any pointer.

 

Bil paying the bills probably cant be enforced?

 

1. You can't change bills from the deceased to BIL's name as there is no authority. He is not the owner of the property and is not under a lease.
Anyone can pay someone else's bill though.

2. Usually a family member will pay these or let the invoicer know what has happened and have the executor pay after probate. If someone else pays they can be reimbursed from the estate later.

 

BIL may need to pay his share of costs as they dont relate to the deceased.

 

Does the will allow BIL to reside in the property rent free? He might be liable to the estate for some rent, and his rent may be the bills.

 

I think the issue here is whether BIL can continue to pay the bills until he moves out so the property can be sold as part of the estate.

 

Thanks, Terry_w. What you said made sense!

 

The will does not made mention of anything about BIL allowed to reside in the property rent free. I think at the time the will was made, BIL was married and lived with ex-wife in her own house. After BIL separated, he moved back in with MIL - he lived with her most of his life, except for the 10 years of his marriage. MIL put up with him and never charged him rent. He was unemployed much of his younger days - only got jobs after he married (wife was really good to him and we all like her for turning him into a decent person). He never worried about having a roof over his head because MIL (verbablly) promised to give him her rental villa unit after her death. But MIL, before going into the nursing home, sold the villa unit and used the money as a deposit.
After MIL moved into the nursing home, BIL has continued to live in the house and we made him paying the outgoings. He has been the only one living there.