Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia
Debt Collection from Widow
I am helping my mother settle her deceased husband's estate.We received a balance of 6850.28 from a credit card that was used by the deceased first wife who has passed away.The credit card had not been paid on since 1996.My mother married in 2005 to the deceased and we do not have the money to pay this debt and have no idea of how to fix the problem.I talked with the collection agency and he stated that he would decrease the balance to 3000.00.We donot feel that my mother is responsible for this debt of 10 years for his first wife.If you can help us we will appreciate as we are going through the loss of our loved one. Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Debt Collection from Widow
It's not your mother who might be responsible for this particular long-standing debt, but the estate of her deceased husband which might possibly be responsible, if in fact it could be credibly demonstrated that the credit card charges were incurred on an account jointly held by the deceased and his first wife or that the first wife had incurred these charges on her own account for what the law considers life's necessaries, meaning for such things as medical/hospital care or, perhaps, to secure housing and sustenance, etc.
In the absence of the collector being able to show any of the above, your mother(or whoever is the executor/administrator of the estate) should likely refuse to pay this claim
as not sufficiently corroborated.
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