# Mother inherits dead son's school loans, 200,000 people sign petition **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525 "2012-11-29T23:57:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/41 "2012-11-30T20:58:03Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > But it appears from what **Motorgirl** and **muldoonthief** are saying, the mother would still be on the hook for the debt. Because the insurance would go directly to the grandson and the dead guy’s girlfriend, and grandma doesn’t get anything to pay off the debt. What it sounds like it needed was debt insurance, like mortgage insurance, except it’s for the student loan. Life insurance would have been better- it pays off the policy amount no matter how much the balance on the loan has decreased.Mortgage and debt insurance only pays the outstanding balance, even if it’s $10.The insurance benefits don’t go through probate and do go directly to the beneficiary- but I can make anyone the beneficiary on a life insurance policy covering me, and anyone who has an insurable interest in another person can purchase and name him/herself as beneficiary on a policy covering that person. There’s absolutely no reason why either the son or the mother couldn’t pay for a policy with the mother as the beneficiary and then change the beneficiary or cancelled the policy when the loan was paid off , except of course, that they didn’t expect him to die both before she did and before the loan was paid off. Which means she/they probably would not have bought any insurance , whether it was called life insurance or debt insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/42 "2012-11-30T21:13:20Z")
I think you are right, **doreen**. Especially, unfortunately, this part - > [@](#): > > she/they probably would not have bought any insurance , whether it was called life insurance or debt insurance. I sort of wonder what the grandma’s been up to for the last three years, if she only thought of starting up a website to pressure the bank into cancelling the debt and changing their policy now. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/43 "2012-11-30T21:33:28Z")
I’m with big evil bank on this one. OTOH, a rule that the liability dies with the student would not be particularly onerous on the banks. In essence, they would be self insuring term life insurance policies for their borrowers. A woman in her 20’s can get a 10year $250K policy for $15/mo. You can easily cover that with an additional 0.1% on the annual rate. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/44 "2012-11-30T22:57:07Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I don’t really see how this sort of situation is any different than if the son had just decided to not pay it back. Yeah, it sucks that her son is dead and she has to pay the money back, but that’s the promise she made when she co-signed. I don’t get to stop payments on my car or some big new TV because someone stole it and I didn’t take that into account. But like was said upthread, that’s what insurance is for. I have car insurance that would cover my car being stolen and help pay off my debt. I have insurance to cover my property incase my home is broken into or burns down. And I have life insurance that will help cover any outstanding debt and burial costs. This happened to a friend of mine. Son worked for a start up, which died, and he then left the country sticking his mother with the loan. And only her - her soon to be ex-husband thought it was a terrible idea and didn’t co-sign. Insurance wouldn’t have helped her, but I suspect a policy of that size for a pretty young guy is fairly cheap. This is why co-signer is defined as “an idiot with a pen.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/45 "2012-12-01T04:34:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > This is why co-signer is defined as “an idiot with a pen.” Not necessarily. Most people co-sign a loan because they have a personal trust of the person taking out the loan. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/46 "2012-12-01T07:57:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not necessarily. Most people co-sign a loan because they have a personal trust of the person taking out the loan. And a liability for no benefit. Anyhow, not my definition. I heard it from my history teacher, who hardly invented it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/47 "2012-12-01T14:33:09Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And a liability for no benefit. Well, some people find an inexplicable urge to help family members. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525/48 "2012-12-01T15:02:03Z")
I really don’t want to side with the bank, but she cosigned, so it seems fairly open and shut to my ignorant-of-the-law status. If I were in her situation I would feel obligated to pay it back. That said, _actually_ paying it back would probably be a nightmare. Every month would be a constant reminder of not only your dead son, but his dead dreams, potential, future, as well. So finances aside, I’m not sure I could handle such a thing. I’d probably set up an automatic deduction or something so I wouldn’t have to think about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-inherits-dead-sons-school-loans-200-000-people-sign-petition/642525.md?page=2)