I’m sure this has come up before, but I was mulling this over and was wondering.
Hypotheically, if you knew the exact day you were going to die and there was a 100% certainity about it, and say, you wanted to live it up before your time was up. You get a bunch of credit cards, run them completely to the limit, cash advances, every single penny sqeezed out of them you can. You morgage all your pocessions that you can. Basically, you go deep into debt because you can’t take it with you and you time it so they won’t be able to collect the money/stuff anyhow until after you are dead.
Assume you don’t have a spouse or childern. No pets, not taking care of mom and dad. Would there be any negative legal repercussions for people you care about in this case? Can anyone else be affected by your debt(again, assuming no spouse/dependents)?I’m talking legally, leaving morals and ethics out of this.
Not that I’m planning on doing this or have any idea when I’m going to die. Just curious and it’s a bit of the offshoot “What if you(and only you) knew the world was going to end in a day/week/month/year scenario.”
Well in the case you outlined, no one is liable after your death. Your estate is sold off to settle debts, but it is highly possible to leave no person responsible.
Happens everyday and at a predictable rate, so companies can plan on these costs and they are passed on to other consumers in misc fees, interest rates, etc.
IANAL, but I believe the creditors have claims against your estate. But if the total value of the estate is zero, I don’t think your heirs have any liability.
I’m basing this WAG on a little bit of personal experience. Shortly before my father’s terminal illness, he was (unknown to any of the family) involved in a car accident that may have been his fault. Some months after he died, we got a letter from the lawyer for the car insurance company advising us of the filing of a suit against him for alleged injuries sustained by someone else. The lawyer was very specific that there was absolutely no liability incurred by his heirs (my sister and me).
This is, of course, just this case, and does not involve actual debt incurred. The debts he had at his demise were paid out of the tiny amount in his bank account and the proceeds of the sale of his house. If these had not been sufficient, I do not think that we would have had to pay them.
Maybe - are you a corporation? Their debts are generally (read: a hole large enough to drive a truck through) binding on heirs, successors, and assigns (I think: IANAL)
For natural people: no - you cannot inherit a (legally enforceable) debt.
Lawyers: If, knowing the date of one’ death (suicide? execution?) and one knowingly incurred debts in excess of one’s assets, would this be defrauding creditor(s) (assuming one had enough lead time to detect the scheme and bring suit)?
Your heirs get what is left. They have no liability. Of course if your estate is worth 10,000 and the Creditors take 9,000 of it they lose. The creditors take the estate first. (subject to taxes which are really first.)
It is possible for you to be blacklisted if your condition is known. If you are declared terminal your credit might be cut immediately.