Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

They can sue you if there is an allegation that you took advantage of the other person. Making an assumption: that this person was elderly. There are high instances of elder abuse and fraud, where people take advantage of them. It may be believed that you did this.

I don't know that I would be terribly worried about this. Though Kenneth makes a valid point about the prospect of elder abuse or fraud allegations it doesn't seem like this would stick. The family would have the burden of proving you tool advantage of the deceased. The only other way I would see some potential liability is if there was some agreement that you would pay the deceased back for items charged on the card account. I would not be too concerned about this especially since there does not appear to be anything you can do proactively to preempt any claims by the deceased's family. If, however, allegations are made against you be sure to contact an attorney as soon as possible.

You do not give enough valid information here. When were you added as an authorized user? Was there a balance on the card prior to that date? After you were added, what charges did you make and when were these paid off? When did the primary card holder die? When was the card paid off? Before death? Who paid it off? The primary card holder? You? The estate? Did you continue to use the card after death of the primary card holder?

I agree with the comments made by Attorneys Love and Neal. As long as you used the card prior to death (provided that you were added as a an authorized user by the primary card holder voluntarily and not out of any elder abuse or fraud) and if you paid for all the charges that you made, then I would not be overly concerned. Do you have documentation to back you up showing what charges you made and what you paid? If not, start working on getting it.

Where you will run into a problem is if the family finds a charge to the card that the primary holder did not make and that the primary card holder paid for. If this was a charge made by you, then possibly you would be liable to reimburse the estate for those charges. If you continued to use the card after death and if the estate paid you would also be liable to reimburse the estate for your charges. If you paid off the card or all charges for which you would be held responsible, then I don't see that you would be liable for anything as there would be no loss to the estate. I don't see how there would be fraud or elder abuse if you paid for the things you bought. Getting added by an authorized user can be a helpful thing if one has some credit challenges and "piggy backs" by being added as an authorized user to someone with good credit provided that this is done in the right way. There would only be fraud/abuse if you prevailed on the primary holder to add you as an authorized user and you then charged things up and never paid making the estate or primary card holder paid.