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Thye can't go after you once you're dead, can they?
They can go after the estate. If you have zero estate, you win, except your dead, sooooo, you lose...
If you have no other possessions, they will take everything you purchased with the cards on your big spree... If it's worth while, like a car or jewlery.
If you have a trust with property, the debtors must be paid off before the estate can be administered. In other words, nobody gets anything until all debtors are paid off...
Apparently, some folks here have never had an estate go to probate.
When you die, your estate doesn't simply wind up in the hands of your lawyer and he distributes the assets according to your will ... if you made one. Without a will, your estate will be handled by the state, and they charge rather handsomely for the pleasure of distributing your assets.
What will happen is a notice of probate and publication, where any and all with claims against you may bring them to the attention of the estate over a several month time period. Unsecured debt has the right to make claims against your estate, and there's professional notification services that advise the major banks about every published death notice/probate notice for many reasons, which can include your CC debt. Those making legitimate claims against your estate will have them paid out of the assets before your will's directives are paid out. Typically, there could be medical bills, hospital bills, many services bills, utility bills ... all kinds of routine and normal expenses which may not have been routinely billed and paid before your demise. Your executor will be responsible for paying these off in full from your estate. Don't forget that you may have life insurance, which may be called upon to pay off your debts, too.
Apparently, some folks here have never had an estate go to probate.
When you die, your estate doesn't simply wind up in the hands of your lawyer and he distributes the assets according to your will ... if you made one. Without a will, your estate will be handled by the state, and they charge rather handsomely for the pleasure of distributing your assets.
What will happen is a notice of probate and publication, where any and all with claims against you may bring them to the attention of the estate over a several month time period. Unsecured debt has the right to make claims against your estate, and there's professional notification services that advise the major banks about every published death notice/probate notice for many reasons, which can include your CC debt. Those making legitimate claims against your estate will have them paid out of the assets before your will's directives are paid out. Typically, there could be medical bills, hospital bills, many services bills, utility bills ... all kinds of routine and normal expenses which may not have been routinely billed and paid before your demise. Your executor will be responsible for paying these off in full from your estate. Don't forget that you may have life insurance, which may be called upon to pay off your debts, too.
You are talking about a will going to probate. Smart people have a trust, which eliminates probate, attorneys, and time delay. The estate transfers immediately to the trustee's, after all debts are paied....
You are talking about a will going to probate. Smart people have a trust, which eliminates probate, attorneys, and time delay. The estate transfers immediately to the trustee's, after all debts are paied....
Yes, Donn ... I was trying to be a little oversimplified about what happens to a person's assets and effects after their passing. For many people, the estate will go to probate, and their debts will be paid.
For people with larger estates and assets to protect, there are many ways to "beat the taxman" which are used to maximize the transfer of the assets per the deceased's wishes.
But, as you point out, the "estate transfers immediately to the trustee's, after all debts are paid."
In the context of the OP's concern, the net result is the same ... via probate or trust. The deceased's estate will be responsible for paying the debts of the deceased ... including unsecured CC debt. The only thing that you've changed in that equation is the potential for tax liability and how it will be paid.
Better hope that you have "nothing" left when you die and DEPENDING on the loans, etc... they can and will go after family members or whoever cosigned the loan... but with credit cards, they probably go after your spouse before they give up... after all, you aren't going to spend all that money just on yourself, right? Credit card companies aren't idiots either...
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