Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Missouri
Ex-wife finds name still on debts of deceased
My sister's ex-husband just died intestate with their minor children as his heirs. His assets total about $700. He owed her thousands of dollars in back child support, plus he owed money on several credit cards and had thousands in unpaid medical bills. She recently learned that her name is still shown on his credit accounts, although she wrote and told them to take it off at the time of the divorce.
1. Will the size of the debts make it necessary to go through probate?
2. Will she be stuck with debts charged after the divorce?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Ex-wife finds name still on debts of deceased
1.Probate only applies where there is a will. 2. She may well be stuck with the debts. Just because she told the creditors to take her name off the debts does not mean they are obligated to do so. In fact, I have rarely if ever heard of creditors agreeing to remove one of joint debtors.
Re: Ex-wife finds name still on debts of deceased
I agree with the response filed by Charles Field and add the following. Is that intestate in MO or GA? With regard to the back child support it should run as a charge against the estate, but with $700, there may no assets to seize. I suppose there is no life insurance. The creditors may very well try to collect from her. However, the interention of a local lawyer may help. If you can show the charges were only for the decease exhusband, that she neither received any benefit nor knew anything about the charges nor approved them (except her name was on the account), you may be able to get out of the charges on contract grounds. [The explain. goes beyond this response.] HCW
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