Do you think you have an obligation to pay your parents' credit card bills when they die?

[Hamlette]

Poll question: Do you think you have an obligation to pay your parents' credit card bills when they die?

I know this may be a slightly different question than the story about the woman who died and may not have left any money in her estate but her son was told to pay the bill anyway. It seems some on here do not think the bill should be paid regardless of money in the estate...or am I reading some posts incorrectly?

[DURHAM D]

1. I don't have any patents. eom

[MannyGoldstein]

7. I Have Seven Of 'Em

But none have credit cards, fortunately.

[Hamlette]

18. fixed it...my bad

[drmeow]

2. Are you asking if there is a legal obligation

or a moral obligation?

[Romulox]

3. The choices are inadequate.

The bills must be paid from the estate, but that does not make them my obligation to pay. :hi:

[Hello_Kitty]

4. They can't touch life insurance

That's why I tell people to get it if they can. Also many states protect annuities from creditors.

[rpannier]

5. The estate has a responsibility to the creditors

The inheritance is not yours until it clears probate (I think that's the term).

The money in the estate is still technically the deceased until released by the court

So any money in the estate goes to their bills: mortgages, credit cards, etc first and then what is left over goes to the family.

[david13]

6. My patents expired. I do have some

copyrights, though. OH! You mean 'parents' as in in loco parentis.
I'm an orphan.
dc

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. what if they signed over the estate before they died?

and your parents die with nothing but debt?

[Greyhound]

15. Then you're from a wealthy family.

Ask anyone that deals with them consistently, the bigger the name, the worse the deadbeat.

(Of course there are exceptions, so whoever you know that has always paid their bills and never screwed one of the serfs out of their due are hereby excluded)

[SoCalDem]

9. If the estate owes bills, those have to be paid FIRST, and what's left is for the heirs..

At least in both estates I have had to handle, that's the way it worked.. We had to contact all open accounts and give them a date-by, to send a final bill, and once that was settled, what was left was the amount to be divided by heirs..

I would think that if Granny owed $450.00, and her estate was more than that, the bill would have to be paid..

fair..moral..legal..

BUT if Granny owed $5,000.00 and she was indigent, then the children should not be forced to or could legally be forced to pay her debt..

[DJ13]

10. Credit cards are an unsecured debt

Theres no obligation to pay that off when they die.

[DearAbby]

11. Money or value should be taken from the estate ....nt

[Donnachaidh]

12. Considering so many banks seem to offer obscene amounts of credit to

Elderly homeowners because they KNOW that *estates* will be available to them when the person passed on -- NO. Banks have been targeting retirees like this for years. It's predatory lending of the WORSE kind.

[graywarrior]

13. I've had one pair of patent leather shoes in my entire life and Sister Mary Ligouria

beat the crap out of me for wearing them.

[FormerDittoHead]

14. Simple: Outstanding debts have to be paid before any distribution is made. n/t

[quiller4]

22. Debts presented to the executor prior to published date

must be paid. If creditors fail to present bills, they lose out. The court authorizes payment to the creditors who have presented bills and distributes the remaining assests to the heirs according to the terms of the will. When my late father died, I was the executor of his estate. We published notices in the newspaper providing instrctions to protential creditors giving them the date by which they had to submit a bill against the estate. I took the additional step of writing to those to whom I knew money was owed sending them a copy of the published notice. I paid those bills the court authorized and then distributed Dad's assests to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren according to the terms set forth in his will. Almost two years after the estate went through probate, I received a small bill from the nursing home where Dad died. I sent it back to them unpaid along with a short note saying that they had been informed both by publication and individual notice of the last possible billing date. Since they failed to bill by that date, they had no claim against the estate which had already been distributed to my father's heirs.

[Still Sensible]

16. This shouldn't even be a poll question

the law says that the 'estate' is responsible. Period. That is why estates go through probate court. It not an opinion, it's the law. And likewise, once the estate is exhausted, a creditor cannot go after relatives for the debt (unless the said relative was a co-signer or somehow already legally tied to the specific debt).

[Hamlette]

21. it actually depends on the type of debt

for instance, if a husband runs up a credit card debt for gambling, the wife does not have to pay. Maybe it is different in different states. Also, there was no estate to speak of except a very modest home and new car (free and clear thanks to life insurance on the car).

[DURHAM D]

17. I watched a few years ago as my partner planned her Mother's funeral.

The funeral home encouraged my friend to charge the entire thing on her deceased Mother's credit card. The bill came to almost $20,000. It worked out well because my friend did not have to cough up the funds from her own sources.

I asked my partner during the funeral planning if she had signature authority on the credit card -the answer was No. I don't know what made this transaction legally possible.

When my friend received the proceeds from her Mother's estate she paid the credit card bill. Meanwhile, my friend had charged legal fees, moving fees, plane tickets, gas, entertainment, and other things on her Mother's credit card. I don't question my friend continuing to use the card after death but I couldn't figure out why the creditors were allowing it.

[KittyWampus]

19. how could anyone expect to inherit an estate but not be liable for debts? Makes no sense

[dweller]

20. i KNEW i should have patented my parents ...

i've been too patient about it, and someone has now probably beat me to it.

damn
dp