Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Your husband's estate is liable to repay the debt to the extent that it has assets to do so. Generally, after someone passes away, a probate is opened with the Court, and creditors have a specified time in which to make claims in the probate. Those claims would be repaid through whatever assets your husband had at the time he passed way. Whatever is left would be distributed through his will, or if he died without a will, through intestate succession (as his spouse, basically everything would come to you). If he had no or little assets, there is an expedited probate you can file, and that will cut the creditors off from seeking to recover from you.

There is an additional possibility in California. California is a community property State. Debts incurred while married are community debts, and in theory even if you are not liable on the cards directly to the creditor, they could seek to have you joined in liability. This isn't super common, but is a possibility. Contact a probate attorney in your area to discuss how best to proceed to deal with the creditors. I assume you have already been advising them that he passed away.

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