Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Responsibility for Parental Debt
I would like to know if a child (and siblings) is responsible for Credit Card Debt that a parent has upon the parents death? More specifically, if 4 children were responsible to pay the debt, would the debt be divided equally? If one child has no source of income or money, would the 3 remaining children have to pay their share? Is there any way to protect oneself from this responsibility?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Responsibility for Parental Debt
The executor of the estate would be responsible to pay for the debt out of the estate proceeds provided their was notification in a timely manner about the debt. The children have no personal responisibility for the debt, unless they personally signed an agreement holding them personally responsible for the debt, and then, only those children signing would be responsible for the debt, not necessarily all the children equally.
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Re: Responsibility for Parental Debt
The estate is responsible for any debt, not the heirs. If there are insufficient assets in the estate to pay all debts, the creditors are out of luck, unlesss the heirs co-signed.
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