Are you concerned about what will happen to any debts you have in your name when you pass away? Settling the affairs of someone who recently passed away can be very difficult because important financial decisions must be made sooner rather than later. These decisions often have to do with whether or not to repay debts that were owed by the deceased after he or she has passed away, like mortgage loans, credit card debt, or student loan debt. 
Bear in mind that as a relative, you are usually not responsible for paying the debts of the deceased and creditors sometimes have to eat the cost of this debt despite any creditors who might make you feel like you are obligated to repay it. Debts after death are usually paid through a person’s estate. This is true whether or not there was a will. This means that individual relatives are not responsible for paying off debts if those debts were not jointly owned at the time that the deceased passed away. For most situations, the debts die along with the person.
Credit card debts belong to the credit card account holder and a family member should not have to pay for a deceased family member’s debts unless they co-signed on the loan or unless it was debt from a joint account. In community property estates, however, assets and property acquired over the course of the marriage are classified as jointly owned and these could, therefore, mean that more than one party is liable for the debt. Much like credit card debt after death mortgage, debt belongs to the borrower of the mortgage loan.
A joint owning spouse would have liability for a loan debt after the death or the debtor spouse but not if the debtor spouse was the only person on the loan. You should talk to an experienced attorney if you have further questions about what happens to debts after death and how to best safeguard your loved ones against the problems of having to deal with financial difficulties if you were to become suddenly incapacitated or pass away. Many different financial questions need to be answered in the moment following an incapacity and leading up to what happens after a loved one is buried. An estate planning lawyer is instrumental for answering questions.
