It often happens that creditors come after the heir's inheritance money to collect the deceased parent's debt. This article talks about whether or not the heirs are legally responsible for the debts of their deceased parents.
Problem:
I lost my mother in an accident 11 months back. I didn't have any knowledge about the financial condition of my late mother. I used to live in a girl's hostel for several years. I moved back to my mother's house 4 months back. After shifting to my parent's house,
I started getting calls from various creditors of my mother. They have come to know about my mother's demise from various sources. I have sent a copy of my mother's death certificate to all of them.
The creditors have asked me to pay $250,000 to them. They say my mother owed this mammoth amount to them. My mother has never told me about this in the past. Actually, we were hardly in talking terms. So, I can't blame my mother. I have received $85,000 as nominee of her checking account. My question is, am I legally obligated to pay off her debt? How should I tackle the creditors? I live in Colorado.
Solution:
It seems that you are immersed in a sea of problems and have no idea how to get out of it. On one hand you're still grieving for your late mother and on the other hand you have to tackle the creditors of your mother. I am surprised to know that your mother didn't give you any clue about her financial problems. She has a mammoth debt. If your mother was carrying such a big debt load on her shoulder, then she should have taken advantage of Colorado debt settlement programs much earlier. This would have helped her to ease the debt repayment process to some extent.
I must admit that what is happening to you is really unfortunate. When a person expires, the estate executor evaluates his assets and financial obligations, and settles everything prior to giving money to the heir. After the heir gets the inheritance, it is supposed to be over.
Usually, the estate executors give enough time to the creditors to make their claims. The executors check the past records of the deceased person before giving inheritance money to the heirs. Due to this reason, the heirs receive the money after a long period of time. Some estate executors abstain from distributing assets amongst the heirs until the taxes are paid off.
Your deceased mother's creditors have made a major mistake. When the creditors saw that they were not receiving any payments from your mother for several months, then they should have gone through the public records. This way the creditors would have known that your mother has expired.
The creditors can't make you legally responsible for this debt. However, they may come after the estate executor. In some states, executors are legally liable to the creditors of the deceased person for as long as 7 months. Check out your state laws and find out if any such law is applicable in Colorado.
I would advise you to not spend the money now. If it is found that the estate executor has committed a major blunder by giving you the inheritance money before paying back the creditors, then you may be compelled to return the money.
Finally, ask the creditors to communicate with you via mails instead of calling. This way you'll have a written document of what your creditors are saying at various times. You may also seek some legal advice from an attorney regarding this matter.
