Posted on May 29, 2009 at 5:13 am My mother has terminal cancer and is in around $20-25,000 in debt. My father has passed away and our family has very limited property. We have not consulted a lawyer on this situation as of yet, we are still looking for alternatives. Can anyone help? Thanks

Posted on May 29, 2009 at 5:35 am If the debt is jointly owned with a co-signer, the latter would be held responsible for taking care of the debt. If the debtor, on the other hand, solely owns the responsibility for paying the bills, the deceased individual's estate would be responsible for paying off their overdue bills. If the estate would need to go thru the probate process, the administrator or executor of estate will look at your mother's assets and prioritize which debts need to be paid first. These need to be paid before this would be distributed to the heirs, by following the deceased person's will, or state law if the individual did not prepare one.In addition, debt collectors will typically ask for information like your mother's executor of estate, their contact number, and the date of death, so be prepared to ready that information. You may also want to send them a copy of the death certificate.I'm sorry to hear about your situation, ChainRxn.

Posted on June 1, 2009 at 11:51 am Yeah also something you may want to consider is if there are any authorized users on the accounts. I am not sure but they may be held liable for the debt? Does anyone know if this is the case?

Posted on June 1, 2009 at 10:47 pm Authorized users are not obliged to take care of the debt. Here's a quick rundown of how the process works:1. As mentioned by Karess earlier, when the primary account-holder dies, debt collectors will attempt to collect from the individual's estate. If funds in the estate are not sufficient to pay everything off, the deceased person's heirs may have to sell their inherited assets to cover what the estate lacked.2. If selling the assets are still not enough to cover the balances due, the creditor will write off the debt. Family members are not liable to take care of this debt.

Posted on June 19, 2009 at 12:56 am I to am sorry about your mother, I am going through something similar. My question/reply is, so even if you & your siblings have already been named as executors to the estate the creditors, in our case, collection agencies and hospitals can make us sell the estate to pay off the debt? If that is the case, what if the estate is sold for $1.00 to a family member?

Posted on July 10, 2009 at 3:22 am

Posted on July 13, 2009 at 6:03 am I think they've pretty much covered it, that the estate takes care of the debt, if there's anything left, it gets distributed to the heirs/according to the will, if not then according to the lawful order of priority.If the estate's worth is not enough to pay off the debt and the surviving next of kin are disabled, minor, senior citizen, or insolvent (no asset, no capability to pay)--the debt gets written off.

Posted on August 12, 2009 at 3:12 am Dealing with debt and death is a very hard thing. I went thru the same thing before and am really devastated at how everything came about. My older sister died and since both of us were single I took care of her. she had a lot of bills and had no estate. I ended up paying most of her debts and now I too am in debt. I am on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, I am just about to meet with my credit counselor soon.

Posted on September 1, 2009 at 2:26 am Hi Sally, sorry to hear about that. Debt and death really is a matter not to be taken very lightly, because it takes a toll not just on your finances, but also on your general well-being.Have you met with your credit counselor? There are actually other available options aside from bankruptcy. Do let us know so that we may be of help to you.

Posted on September 1, 2009 at 3:21 am I'm not filing for bakruptcy, I have found out that it does bad things to my credit, and I'm afraid not to be able to have a good credit standing moving forward if I file for it.So what do you guys suggest I do?