Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Inheritance

The son, or whoever is the executor or administrator of the estate, will have to pay the father's debts. Does Dad have a living trust, or at least a will? Not having a living trust will cost thousands of dollars in probate costs and attorney fees. Not having even a will costs even more.

Re: Inheritance

The father's debts will become claims against the estate when he dies. The executor, administrator or if none the heirs themselves must pay the debts before they are entitled to the assets of the estate.

News of a person's death is available because a death certificate will be recorded by someone - the attending physician, mortician, coroner, executor, etc. - and that becomes a public record. Credit card companies and credit bureaus pick up computerized abstracts of death certificate filings and check them against their other records. If not, the Social Security Administration will find out - presumably you would notify them rather than going to prison for letting Social Security payments go on forever?

Also, anyone dealing with the property of an estate is going to get asked for a certified copy of the death certificate everywhere they turn, for example, in closing out bank accounts, trying to sell or re-title real estate, etc.

The sooner you pay off the high-interest credit cards, the better for you. I can assure you the interest rate doesn't go down when the primary cardholder dies. They will find you, and if you are committing fraud by hiding from them, the statute of limitations may be tolled during that time.