Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Massachusetts

Re: Credit card debt responsibility

I applaud the �ethical� desire to pay the debts, however a belief that it would be ethical to repay the debt does not amount to a legal obligation to pay the debt.

Your brother-in-law is responsible for his deceased wife's debts only if he signed a guarantee for the debts such as a mortgage or a credit card where both parties signed for credit privileges.

Although there may be no direct responsibility upon your brother-in-law to pay the debts the estate of his deceased wife may still be responsible to pay the debts to the extent that the estate has any assets to pay the debts Determining whether and how the estate is liable for the debts is a much more complicated and fact specific discussion, too long to write here. Please feel free to contact my office directly.