Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in South Carolina

Re: credit cards, bills

That depends on a couple of things. One: are you a cosigner of the debt? If it's a joint debt, then yes. If it's just in your husband's name then maybe not. Is it a secured debt, or do you both have some property of value that a creditor would be interested in? Assuming you would be your husband's estate's administrator or executor upon his death, you could be faced with the loss of what you'd consider joint property if the debt was secured, or if the value of the debt was such that a creditor would seek to have assets liquidated to execute on a judgment, then you might be impacted by that personally.

The general rule, though, is that debts do not fall on the decedent's heirs *personally* - although there may be other ways which they can be economically impacted by a loved one's passing.�

Best course of action: talk to an estate planning lawyer sooner, rather than later, to find out what your exposure really is, and how best to protect your family's assets from the reach of creditors upon death.