Who is responsible for the credit card debt of a person who dies?


I am having doubt about the credit card debt of a person. My uncle passed away but he is having credit card debt. who is responsible for that debt?

No one in his family is responsible - NO ONE.
The reason I capitalized is because creditors, even though they know this, they will call you and scare you into thinking you owe them.
Please tell everyone in your family.
They can call anyone in the family.
I've heard they even call neighbors asking if they know of any other family members.

If the debt is large enough, they will go through the estate.
Once the estate settles, the creditor will have to come after the estate.
If your uncle had no cash assetts to his name - he will owe nothing.
Note: Im 90% sure they can not come after any life insurance payouts.
/

the estate like one person said
But, I used to do collections and when a person died, the family would fax a death certificate my company. It would be reviewed by the appropriate department, and then it was just written off. no payment required. when I left, there was a drive to try to collect on dead people. BUt, I even think they found it was expending too much staff time to collect on the accounts.
Call them and explain the person is dead, and you will probably get off sending in the certificate. If they say, can you pay ... etc, just say no. Times are too hard.
My mother passed last year and did not have an estate, so it was easy on me. just send Death Certificates to places and issue done. she died in Jan, and did not meet the income levels, so do not even have to do an IRS form this year. all they wanted was an original death cert.

The estate IS responsible, but if the credit card account was a joint account (owner and co-owner of said account) the other person is responsible.

If your uncle had an authorized user on the account (many people add their children), then it would be in the best interest of the authorized user to take care of the debt, because it reports to their credit bureau as well.

Life insurance payouts pass to the beneficiary outside of probate, so it is protected and not included as part of the deceased estate.

Family members are not obligated to pay the debts of the deceased The estate, if there are assets that can be sold, will pay the debts. It's important to understand that if the deed to the family home is written as joint tenancy in common, the deceased's portion of of the property interest can be ordered sold to settle debts. Joint tenants with right of survivorship avoids probate; the entire property passes to the survivor. however, liens against the property survive the death (mortgages, remodeling costs, etc).

Only his wife and that is only if it was a joint account with her. If account was in his name only, his wife is not liable. otherwise, no one else is legally liable for his debt. Collection agencies always try to collect from the family but they have no legal rights to get the money from the family.

It's in his estate. however, if the credit card debt overwhelms the person's estate, the banks should not go after the relatives. Unless, a person from the family signed with the deceased.

1) The estate
2) Cosigners
3) The spouse, but only in a community property state.

Nobody else, including the heirs, is required to pay the debt. But the bill has to be paid out of the estate before the heirs can inherit anything.

His estate. and if there are not enough assets to satisfy the debts the creditors cannot come back to relatives. Unless of course someone co-signed an account, for that the survivor would be liable.

Who is responsible for the credit card debt of a person who dies?


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10 Responses to “Who is responsible for the credit card debt of a person who dies?”

  1. CasiYucateco says:

    * If a parent is deceased, the death certificate should be presented.

  2. Ideally, but unless there is a conscious effort to do so family members may retreat into their own corners to do their own thing. This list is a good example of things to do together.

  3. Genghis77 says:

    Perhaps not exactly true. I had a step brother die of Pulmonary Fibrosis attributed to his pot smoking. Pulmonary Fibrosis is a form of lung cancer. At least that's what his death certificate said. He did not smoke regular cigarettes.

  4. MadManuel says:

    When you said you worked for ITT.. I though you were talking about the defense contractor. When you're hired by them, you go through a vetting process, and one of your tasks is to go through the fed clearance procedure. The biggest part of that (besides the finger printing, drug tests, and interviews if your family members, (or lie detector test) is filling out the most exhaustive form you can imagine: the SF-86

  5. crybabyboehner says:

    Are you sure? Have you seen her DEATH CERTIFICATE?

  6. Chachi says:

    because it isnt humane! The only way you can decide a family members "fate" is if there is a risk of death at surgery or if they are on life support you can pull the plug and let them die!

  7. MakeU_MyGF says:

    if one of your family members called police on you.... what would you do??? how would you deal with them??????

  8. Danielle says:

    I understand this is a hard time, but take the condolences and the comfort people are putting out. They aren't meaning to be rude, they truly are uneducated about the topic. Just surround yourself with family, and people that make you happy, it's what you need right now. I'm extremely sorry for your loss.

    As for the death certificate, I'm in the US, so I don't know. I'll keep you in my prayers.

  9. Because of these, I've never had to buy any of my family members a birthday card.

  10. diamond7771 says:

    RT #funeralhomeslogans "Thanks for choosing us to lay your family members to rest, dont get too comfortable because you could be next"

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