Insurances.net
insurances.net » Personal-Finance » An Inheritance Of Debt
Finance Investing Loans Personal-Finance Taxes Loan quotes
]

An Inheritance Of Debt

He left me nothing but bills. Do I have to pay them?

Unfortunately, many people who have lost a loved one soon find that the deceased had accrued substantial debt. Survivors are often then left with the challenges of managing this debt both ethically and legally. While the moral issue is something that should be understood, the legal obligation is what concerns most people. The normal question asked is Do I owe the debt of a deceased family member? The answer may bewilder you.

If a deceased person originated a debt that he/she alone accrued, then he/she was responsible, and you are not. In this case you should rest easy because you would have no legal obligation to pay the debt. However the debt of a dead relative may affect you due to possible responsibility of their estate to make right those obligations, thereby leaving a lot less inheritance to heirs.

There are usually only two circumstances where you may be legally responsible for a relatives debts. The first case is when you are a co-signer on obligations of the individual. This would happen when you and the deceased were co-signers on a loan such as a credit card account or a property mortgage. In those cases you were jointly and severally (together and individually) obligated. Just because one of the parties obligated for a debt passes away, it does not relieve the surviving party of their responsibility.

The other possible obligation scenario is if you are the spouse of the deceased person and you live in what is called a community property state. These states include Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. If you live in these states and your husband or wife dies, you will want to seek counsel from an estate attorney.

Another issue comes in feeling a moral obligation to pay a deceased relatives debts even though there is no legal obligation to do so. Before you consider this option you should take into consideration how the loss of the funds in question will affect you and your familys current and long term security. In addition, you need to recognize that companies that loan money know that a certain number of their debtors will pass away owing them money. They compensate for this reality in the fees and interest they charge their entire customer base. So, the pay off of debts owed by a deceased person, by a relative, can be viewed as bonus profits for the company in question and not as an unexpected loss.

You will note that most companies protect themselves from the possibility of loss by getting multiple signers on debt instruments and placing liens on collateral such as real property, automobiles, equipment, etc so that they can either take ownership of the assets or force their sale in order to satisfy the debt. If you choose to pay off a relatives debt when you have no legal obligation to do so, that is your choice, but be sure to think about all aspects of the action before you do so.

by: Adam Walters II
Retire Early And Purchase Structured Settlement Annuities Reduce your Debt: How You Will Reduce Your Debts driving lessons and constructing the agreement on whether to purchase weekly or more intense instruction Getting into debt is not uncommon The IVA UK debt solution Why Do Debt Occurs? Secure Your Future By Clearing Your Pending Debts Maxwell, Turner & Associates Announces Foray Into Debt Purchasing Iva Uk: Resolve Your Manifold Debts Problems With Little Worries Debt Help: Options to Get Rid of the Debt Trap Purchase Of Gold And Its Importance Using Debt Settlement To Lower Your Bills Ways To Be Free From Debt
Write post print
www.insurances.net guest:  register | login | search IP(3.147.81.214) / Processed in 0.004792 second(s), 5 queries , Gzip enabled debug code: 14 , 3048, 179,
An Inheritance Of Debt