My husband passed away 2 months ago he had a credit card debt of 5000 dollers he had nothing when he passed away no retirement fund we had less than 1000 dollers in our bank account in which I removed his name after he passed away. Now I am getting phone calls from debt collecters, can they hold me responsible and if so what are my rights?
Answer
Generally speaking the debts of a spouse will not transfer to the other at one spouse's death. However, creditors may have a right to whatever assets the deceased person owned before those assets get transferred to others. Whether or not that happens in a particular case will depend on how the assets were titled. If someone dies without any assets there will be nothing to collect.
If there are any assets, even if the estate is insolvent (meaning there is not enough money to go around) then an estate should be opened. In the ordinary course of handling an estate creditors will get notified and they have a limited time frame to present their claims against the estate.
While I hope this general legal information helps it is not designed to offer legal advice on the specifics of your particular situation.
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