Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Kansas

Re: Death and debt

The credti cared debt would not be effected by the death. That is to say it would not pass to someone else, who was not responsible for it the moment before death. Most likely it would not get paid. The credit card company (like any creditor) can make a claim against the decedent's probate estate. They can even open an estate for the decedent if the family doesn't. They seldom do, and most decedents never have a probate estate opened.

The money in teh bank accounts would first be determined by how it was titled before death. If it was in the name of Mr & Mrs Jones and Mrs jouns commits suicide, then MR. Jones gets it without anyone doing anything. If it was owned as tenents by the entirety with anyone else, it would work the same way.

If the decedent did nto have an enttirety co-owner they might have had a TOD or POD designation. With a TOD, the account changes names at eh time of the bank learning of the death to the designee. With a POD the bank cuts a check to the designee when they learn of the death.

If the account had two or more people able to draw from it, but they were not owners by the entirety, the remaining people can still draw against the account, until a probate estate is opened and the accunt fudns brought into the estate.

Good luck with your writing