Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio

Re: death of family member

Under Ohio law, his estate is responsible for any debts that he had at, or as a result of death. You have no direct responsibility.

Re: death of family member

YOUR QESTION:

After 14 years in an extremly abusive marriage,my mother, in 1978, packed up 4 children and fled from Ohio and moved us to Oregon. Our ages, at that time, ranged from 13 to 2 years old.

We did not see, hear from, or receive anything from our father for the past, almost, 30 years.

Now on Dec 27th we get a call from our uncle saying our father has passed away and that we are legaly obligated to deal with the cost of his burial and lawyer fees to deal with his estate etc.. Our uncle says our father died with nothing... only bills that need paid.

Are we legaly responsible for any of this?

ANSWER: NO. You are NOT responsible (at least not directly) for your deceased father's debts existing at death or incurred in connection therewith. That is the responsibility of his estate. If he owned any property and/or had any money at the time of death, it would be used to pay-off his debts and fees incurred in connection with any probate proceedings, with anything thereafter remaining then being distributed to his heirs if he did not have a will, or to his designated devisees if he did have a will.

But if the decedent had no money and owned no property at the time of death, there would be no "estate" from which to pay the creditors. In which case the creditors are out of luck.

L.D. Gorin