Ask Me Help Desk - Credit depts of a deceased person

My mother died and se had two credit cards totaling 22,000.00 I will not be selling her home because I have a mentally challenged brother (47) years old who will be living in the home with me until he dies. The collection company tells me I have to either sell the house mortgagr the house or pay them the 22,000.00 in one year. Can they make me get a mortgage or sell the house or pay this bill in a year or can I pay what I can until it is paid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendybus6

my mother died and se had two credit cards totaling 22,000.00 i will not be selling her home because i have a mentally challenged brother (47) years old who will be living in the home with me until he dies. the collection company tells me i have to either sell the house mortgagr the house or pay them the 22,000.00 in one year. can they make me get a mortgage or sell the house or pay this bill in a year or can i pay what i can until it is paid.

According to british law a credit company can not force you to make any payment to them at all unless you have already let them into the house.

I would contact the company / s who own the debt and talk to them directly. They have insurances that will cover these type of circumstances.

I'm sure if you took it to court there is no court that will throw a disabled person from their home if they are being cared for there and have lived there long term.

Personally I would take legal advice on this before making any payments to them. Write to the credit company and advise them that neither you or your brother are persoanlly responsible for the debt and you will be seeking legal advice on the matter. Send a copy to the collection company and let them know that you will advise them further once you have had advice. Note that you may find that the collections company will put the pressure on as they will be afraid that they won't get their cut of the debt. If you have not already let them in Don't. They have no right of access and cannot break into your home unless you let them in the first time. They can however climb through a window if its open and gain access that way. Once they have been in once they then have right of access and can break in.

You may also find that once you make any sort of payment on this debt you are accepting liability for it.

Get a solicitor asap as your home is in danger.

Nicnet

I am in the US, at the time for death all of the house, funiture, car, money in the bank, goes into the estate, the estaate is to be sold to pay all of the outstanding debt.

So yes, you will need to either pay them, or sell the house. If you don't have 22,000 in the bank to write them a check, Your choice would be to get a mortgage or other loan and pay them off,

Basically you have to clear the outstanding debts of the estate to keep the house.

I differ with the two first answers and I am not an attorney but have dealt in a somewhat limited fashion with the estates of deceased persons. I will assume you are not in Great Britain and that you are in the US and I do not have any experiences with British law. A person either passes in the US, according to most US states laws, testate or intestate. That is with a will (testate) or without a will (intestate) and you can also look at it this way. Should one pass prior to drawiing a written will that dicates how there assets, liabilties are to be handled, dispered to living heirs, then the state law dicates the order a percentages of whom is to receive estate assets if there are any. Normally, a close relative will petition the court (usually called probate court) to become the administrator of the deceased person's estate and if successful that person has the responsibility of gathering all estate assests and dispersing them either according to the written will or according to state law. Therefore, if you are the sole heir, then the home is now yours unless, say for example, your mother willed the home to a charity or gave it someone else. The debts you mention are now a debt of the estate and unless you or someelse signed as a cosigner, then the credit card companies need to pursue the estate and not you or someother cosigner. I think you need to see an attorney and he / she will probably advise you that you can keep the home, that you do not have to mortgate it to pay off debts for which you have not signed for and that you or him / her for you can correspond with the banks and advise them that you are not responsible personally. I don't think the attorney or you should suggest to the banks that they sue the estate... that's their choice and you do not want to give me any ideas... they should have enough money to seek their own legal advice! The atty will probably advise you also that if you receive suit papers from the banks, to let him / her know and he / she will then probably, if this is the case, petition the court to have the estate declared insolvent. In others words, that there are no assets to pay debts. I suggest you seek the services of an attorney.