Credit Card question / debt and the dead.

NotRichAtAll

I have a question regarding credit cards and who is responsible for the debt if the card holder dies.

Scenario :- A mother has a credit card with 6k limit she draws out that 6k and blows it, 2 mths later she dies, would her only son be responsible in anyway for any or all of her debt? The son has no connection to any of the cards, is not a guarantor or anything like that, he is her only living relative, and that is the only connection.

This was a discussion at work today, and i said that i was pretty sure the debt would die with her, however i was not 100% sure.

also apologies if this is not the correct forum, was not sure where to ask it

thanks

Rich7111

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).

nidO

The debt will need to be paid from any assets the mother owns at the point of death, this will be taken from her estate before any remainder is disbursed to her beneficiaries etc.
If she has no assets or not enough to cover the debt, the remainder will be written off.

g6jns_2

NotRichAtAll wrote: »

I have a question regarding credit cards and who is responsible for the debt if the card holder dies.

Scenario :- A mother has a credit card with 6k limit she draws out that 6k and blows it, 2 mths later she dies, would her only son be responsible in anyway for any or all of her debt? The son has no connection to any of the cards, is not a guarantor or anything like that, he is her only living relative, and that is the only connection.

This was a discussion at work today, and i said that i was pretty sure the debt would die with her, however i was not 100% sure.

also apologies if this is not the correct forum, was not sure where to ask it

thanks

Her family have no responsibility unless they guaranteed the debt in some way. The debt does not die with cardholder but is a debt of the estate. If the estates debts exceed the assets then some if it may be written off.

NotRichAtAll

Hi and thanks for the replies, busy day at work.

ok lets toss some more into the pot, still on the original post lets say, the mother has no property, savings or investment's all she had was her household items and clothing. Would this be classed as her estate? there would be no will as such as there is only her son left, there maybe a letter saying "all my belongings is yours now".

the son would not be pursued for the money the mother spent prior to dying, or would he?

thanks

Stereo

NotRichAtAll wrote: »

the son would not be pursued for the money the mother spent prior to dying, or would he?

thanks

Not as far as I'm aware, and I worked in the credit card industry for 5 years. It's the mother's estate which would be used to pay - if she has nothing, it's written off. The son has no connection to the debt.

NotRichAtAll

Stereo wrote: »

Not as far as I'm aware, and I worked in the credit card industry for 5 years. It's the mother's estate which would be used to pay - if she has nothing, it's written off. The son has no connection to the debt.

Thanks, this is what i suspected was the case.