Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

You may be responsible for the credit card if you are also on the account. Otherwise you should be.

If life insurance names you as beneficiary it is not a part of your mothers estate and therefore would not be subject to your mother's creditors. Likewise with the property.

I would highly recommend having a lawyer review everything for you to be sure that things will work as you expect. This answer should not be taken as legal advice.

Good luck to you.

Good advice. You are not responsible for any of your Mother's debts unless you signed up to be. If there are assets that wind up in a Probate Estate, her debts will be addressed in Probate Court. BTW, I am sorry for your loss.

Before responding to your specific question, it begs the further question whether your mother should be consulting an attorney concerning bankruptcy. It is not clear whether your question is based on her expected passing or just considerations for the future. If her debt is significant and will be impacting her life, perhaps she should meet with bankruptcy counsel.

As far as your responsibility, no, for the most part it does not sound like you will be responsible. Generally, nobody is personally responsible for the debts of another unless they are also a party to the obligation. So, your own assets (home, bank accounts, goods, etc.) will not be subject to your mother's debts. Her assets may be subject to the debt before you receive any inheritance, but generally the assets you have described are not passing through her estate. Life insurance creates a contractual relationship in which the beneficiary receives funds in exchange for the premiums that were paid. The life insurance death benefits, provided they are payable to anyone other than the estate, are not subject to the obligations of the estate. Similarly, it sounds like the real estate will pass outside the estate. With the latter, however, if your name was added after your mother was already in debt, there is a possible argument that the transfers were made with the intent to defraud creditors, which could allow the transfers to be set aside. Creditors going that far is usually the exception unless it is obvious and easily provable (for example, your mother is facing collection efforts and transfers ownership or does so immediately upon her death bed).