Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana

Re: Does my mother get my father's debt after his death

Your question is unclear about this, but I am going to assume that the mobile home is not titled jointly, that you have sole title to it, but your father co-signed the loan. If so, then you will remain responsible for the loan. Send the bank a copy of the death certificate in case they had some life insurance which could be applied to the loan. If your Dad was also on title to the mobile home, then you will have to work out a deal with your step-mother and the bank to take over title and loan responsibility. Your stepmother will probably not be responsible to pay the loan while you get to keep the mobile home.

Re: Does my mother get my father's debt after his death

Property which is owned jointly with someone at the time of death of one of the owners becomes the property of the survivor by law. This is found in Title 32 of the Indiana Code. In Title 29 of the indiana Code, it specifies that such property is not property of the estate and that a decedent's will cannot affect title to such property. From that, if both you and your father (and or any other person such as a spouse) took title to the mobile home, you by having lived longest became the owner. If your father signed as a guarantor or co-signer on a loan you were also liable on, then only you remain liable on the debt. If the property does not pass through his estate, neither will the debt. This would mean that you would still have to pay off the debt, but in order to remove your father's name from the title at the time you sell the mobile home, you will need a death certificate.

If, on the other hand, your father financed the mobile home solely in his name (and not yours), then the mobile home and the debt will become part of his probate estate and will pass to his surviving spouse under the terms of the will. The creditor and/or the surviving spouse would have the right to sell the mobile home to collect the balance due.

I would recommend that both you and your step-mother together consult a probate attorney with your various concerns about this matter.

If your father's name was the only one on the title, then she now owns the trailer (subject to the debt due) and as owner would be entitled to sell it, rent it to someone else and/or force you to move out and live in it herself. However, if your name is also on the title with your father's name, then you become the sole owner once he passed away and she would have no rights.

A third possibility occurs to me that title is in your name and only your father was liable on the loan. In that case your property is collateral for money he owed at his death. His widow is not liable for the payment of the loan, but his probate estate is. If that estate does not exist or is insufficient to pay the debt, the creditor will most certainly begin foreclosure proceedings. Your step-mother does not have to dip into the monies or property she inherited by surviving your father to pay this debt, only into the property he owned in his own name alone. In the cases of most married couples, there is seldom property owned by only one of them, as title is mostly held in joint names for the house, the cars and the bank accounts or other investments.