You can’t take it with you, but do credit card bills follow you into the grave? Does that debt die with you? Or can it come back to haunt those left behind?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. A number of factors, including where you live and who applied for the card, can radically alter the situation.
Here’s the simple part: If the card was yours alone, with no joint account holders, the debt is yours alone, too.
When you die, your estate is responsible for paying off the balance. If the estate goes through probate, your administrator or executor will look at your assets and debts and, guided by law, determine in what order bills should be paid. Remaining assets will be distributed to heirs by following your will (if you have one), or state law (if you don’t).
Sometimes, the credit card company loses
If the assets don’t cover the bills? “If there isn’t enough money, credit card companies would have to, as my students say, ‘suck it up,’ ” says Doug Rendleman, law professor at Washington and Lee University.
Creditors are notified that the estate is insolvent. Read more…
Tags: Credit Card, Debt