Mom passed away unexpectedly with no will. We are 3 adult children, her only survivors, and are working together to take care of her possessions. She has no assets, no hidden money, nothing. What is the simplest way to make the credit card companies just go away since there is no money to pay them off? She does, however, have a very small savings account of a few hundred dollars. As next of kin listed on her death certificate, do I have the right to close out that account before a greedy creditor (or even worse, one of the doctors responsible for her death!) attempts to take it? Thanks for all help!

Sorry to hear about your mother's passing.

The money in her savings account MUST be used to pay her creditors FIRST, before you or your siblings collect anything.

If her assets are less than what she owes, you just pay out the assets to the creditors and tell them sorry, no more money left and show them a copy of her death certificate.