A friend’s husband just died leaving some credit card debt behind. These were his cards alone, his wife’s name was not on them. The lawyer handling the will told her that the debts would be discharged and she was not responsible for them. (They are not well off and do not have many assets.) When she contacted the credit card companies to inform them of his death, they said said she would have to pay the monies owed out of his life insurance policy (which is not large and will barely pay for the funeral). She, not the estate, is named as the beneficiary of the policy. The cc companies were adamant that she would have to pay the debts even though she is not the cardholder. She’s going to contact the lawyer again but I thought I would check here and see if anyone has had experience in this. She lives in Maine, if that makes a difference.
The CC companies are lying.
I’m sorry, but you need to be a bit more emphatic here. Please remember to add the modifier fucking whenever speaking of credit card companies.
To the OP, your friend needs to check the laws in her jurisdiction, of course. But the default assumption in dealing with credit card issuers is to assume that they are venal bastards and that any resemblance between their words and the truth is a coincidence.
When my favorite uncle died, both I and my father (and perhaps my sisters, I don’t know) got calls from credit card companies trying to get us to pay off the debts he had left behind. When I told one rep he had died and I was not his heir in any way, one rep still threatened me with a lawsuit, while another said that many survivors felt obliged to pay off their relatives’ debts no matter what the relationship. Fuckers.
Even if you were his heir, it wouldn’t matter. You don’t inherit debt. The only case where a surviving heir would owe the credit card company is if it was a joint account.
When my (long absent) father died, his creditors tried to get me to pay off his (fairly extensive) debts. I told them to go pound sand. Never heard from them again.
They’re just trying to get someone, anyone, to cover their losses. Your friend’s husband’s debt died with him.
Pig-fuckers.
What do have agaisnt pigs! :eek:
Do you what the differance is between a carp and credit card collection agent? One is a scum sucking bottom feeder; the other is just a fish.
That’s pretty much what I thought. She needs all the money she can get as they have a 6 year old and now they’re down to one income. Thanks everyone!
Nothing. I just think fucking them is grody. If Athena had meant us to fuck pigs she would not have made them pigs.
Not necessarily. The general rule is that the deceased’s estate is liable for the deceased’s debts, and those have to be paid before the remainder of the estate can be distributed to the beneficiaries. So it’s conceivable that a credit card company might sue the estate for payment. However, if the amount of debt is low, then they may not take that approach.
As always, it depends on the law of the particular jurisdiction. The OP’s friend has a lawyer and should rely on that lawyer’s advice to guide her through a difficult situation.
I agree with Northern Piper. The widow is not personally liable, since they were not joint accounts, but the estate could be liable, if the creditors timely file the appropriate documents in a probate proceeding.
I also agree with Skald regarding the character and other qualities of credit card companies.
This is what I was thinking, but the insurance payment is not part of his estate right? That money is paid to the wife, not to the husband’s estate.
That’s what it sounds like, from the OP’s description, but did the deceased have any other assets that went into his estate? if so, creditors may be able to claim against the estate. depends heavily on the facts of the particular case, plus the local laws.
IANAL, but if the wife is the named beneficiary of the insurance policy, then it’s hers and not the estate’s (at least in Pennsylvania). I’m going through something similar with my mom’s estate (though not bad in the debt department).
For all the bad things I’ve said about lawyers and accountants, I’ve found them to be well worth the money in my situation.
Unless the life insurance policy used “estate” as the beneficiary, she won’t have to cough up out of that.
If, I mean WHEN, 'cause it’s just a matter of time when they aren’t getting paid. So WHEN they call, explain the person has died. Then say you know nothing else, and if they’d like they can take it up with the estate. When they ask, follow up questions, say “I don’t know.”
His wife may not have to pay her deceased husbands CC debt, but it’s certainly true that you and I will.
I don’t really see why everyone is rushing to attack the credit card companies, when the husband basically welshed on his debt. The ethical thing to do would be for the wife to make any effort to pay off the debt, rather than expect all the rest of us to pay it for her.
Uh, what? The dude died. You make it sound like a deliberate act. Besides, the ethical thing for the widow to do is take care of their (her) son.
[quote=“Skald_the_Rhymer, post:3, topic:555606”]
I’d tell him to try finding somebody who pays off random strangers’ debts the way some people pester the police by confessing to whatever crime happens to be in the news.
Bullshit. The possibility that the account holder may die is a price of doing business. The wife was not an signer on the account and has not the obligation to repay it. Nonetheless the credit card company will try to persuade her otherwise because by and large credit card companies are owned & operated by soulless bastards who in a just world would be beaten with with nail-studded t wo-by-fours until by some mischance or miracle the milk of human kindness seeped in.
I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.
The best thing to say to the credit card company would be nothing - it’s simply not your account.
When they ask for Bill, you say “Bill’s not here.” Let them figure out that he’s dead on their own - they’re not your cards and you don’t have any relationship with the CC company.