Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Simple. If mother is insolvent and truly has no probate assets, you will write a letter, send it via certified mail return receipt requested, to each of the creditors who obtained the judgment.

in the letter, you will advise that creditor got a judgment against mother, that mother died (include a copy of death certificate), that mother had no assets justifying probate, that no estate will be probated for mother and that you are not personally responsible for the debts.

the judgments never ever truly go away, but what do you care? you are not liable for them and they are not collectible.

if mother had assets, then an estate needs to be probated for her. notices to all of the creditors will have to be sent personally as well as published in the newspaper directing them to file a claim with the estate. claims will be paid in order of priority - first some funeral expenses, family allowance and estate expenses (cost of probate, attorney fees if an estate attorney is involved, commissions to the personal representative) and any taxes. while judgment creditors are higher in priority than unsecured creditors without a judgment, if there is no money then the claim is denied by the personal representative. if there is some money, then the personal representative can compromise the claims. for example, say there is $5000 left after paying required priority things - and there are 5 creditors with claims for varying amounts but whose claims all exceed $1000. personal representative could decide that all creditors split the $5000 ($1000 apiece) equally.

However, before you do anything, I would recommend speaking with a probate attorney and letting him or her review the assets and debts. You don't need to hire an attorney, just get a consult with one to see if probate would be justified or what the best way to handle it would be.