Dishonor of debt only applies under the agreed terms of the debt. If there is no agrement between both parties there eis no dishonor. If the collection agency acquired the debt under an outright...
It comes down to how the estate was handled. In most states assets are used to pay debt and then distributed to heirs. If everything they owned was simple transferred to you without proper probate...
Do you have a patent (provisional or full) yet? I would not seek funding until I have at least a full market study, working prototype, manufacturing costs and patent protection in place. Otherwise...
Don't confuse Adsense income (taxable) with expences (wich may be deductable). The expenses you pay to create the income may be deductable from what you will need to pay in tax but look at it this...