Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Oregon

Re: Adult children liable for deceased parent's debt?

Unless the adult children have guaranteed some of the parent's debt, they do not have any liability for the parent's debts.

It is unusual for an adult child to guarantee a parent's obligations. The one place that I sometimes see this, however, is when a parent is placed in a nursing home or other care center. Often the nursing home (looking out for its own interests) will ask the adult child to sign some of the nursing home documents. Sometimes these documents are written to act as a guarantee of the parent's care costs. The way to protect yourself from this obligation is to review the documents before signing them to be certain that they do not make such a guarantee. If you do not understand them, have them reviewed by an attorney before you sign.

Our office offers low cost initial consultations. We would be happy to review such documents for you.