Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Utah

The estate is responsible for the debt, not the children. Although, there are certainly circumstances where children could become liable for debts if they took assets that a creditor properly claimed. The best course here is to file a probate and publish a notice to creditors. Once the period for creditors to come forward has elapsed creditors can no longer lay claim to the assets of the estate (or come after the heirs if the heirs acted improperly).

Children are not responsible for the debt of their relatives. The estate is all of the assets of the deceased. The assets of the estate are used to pay the debts. whatever is left is divided among relatives according to state law.

One of the relatives should open probate and apply to be the personal representative (PR) of the deceased. The PR gathers all of the debts and assets, then pays the bills and finally distributes all of the remaining assets to the relative under the supervision of the court.

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