Skkyver Blog70525

What about your debts and when you die? Who is responsible for any outstanding bills to be paid when the person owing them has died? Does one get off scott free? Do their relatives have to pay for the debts their loved one had accumulated? Does the Government take control of the situation? These are all good questions and knowing the answers even better to understand your or your loved ones potential obligations upon death.

Any debts outstanding upon ones death are ultimately the deceased estates responsibility. Also funeral costs and any legal fees in determining the will are also the deceased estates responsibility. Once these particular demands are met, then generally the remaining monetary items go to family members, as determined in that persons will. For example, perhaps your dad owned a house worth $500,000 but still had some payments left on it for $100,000. Upon death, you realized that the house was willed to you. You would be responsible to pay the $100,000 still (but could probably do it as a mortgage still, not responsible for it all up front). However you could just as easily sell the house and pay off the $100,000 and keep the remaining money.

Now if the situation was as such, that your dad purchased a house for $300,000 and due to other circumstance, the house is now worth only $200,000 and he had only paid $50,000 of it, and his estate has no assets of any kind to make up the cost, then you could only sell the house for $200,000 yet still owe the bank $250,000? Would you have to go into Debt Settlement with this issue? No, in this case the bank looses out, you would not be responsible to pay for any debt above the value of what was willed to you. However if you or another family member are a co-signer of any loans outstanding to the deceased, they will still be the remaining persons responsibility.

Another thing to point out is that yes, the debts are paid for with the deceases assets. But reasons not to run up any great debt, especially in your later years is that items like family heirlooms and precious items that have been in the family for some time may have to be auctioned off to pay the creditors. If debts are owed and the estate owns a three hundred year old family table, it most likely will sold, thus causing hardship for the family emotionally.

Kevin D manages http://www.debt10.com/ a site specializing in Debt Consolidation informational resources.