Am I Responsible For Credit Card Debt If My Loved One Is Gone?
Most people are very concerned whether they are required "legally" to bear the credit card debts left by their deceased loved ones. Who will be liable? In fact, there is no definite answer for this question because most of the time, the judgments are based on different situations. Let's see some of the possible senarios.
If the credit card accounts are in the name of the deceased, no one will be legally bound to pay for the outstanding balances and the banks or card companies have to absorb all the remaining debts, which are considered bad debts. No matter how many family members the deceased has, since nobody has agreed to be responsible on the debts, the creditors have no right to force anyone to bear the debts. No legal action can be taken at all. In the case where the debt amount is too large, the creditors will try to get the deceased's assets (if any) to settle the outstanding.
On the other hand, if you so happen to cosign on the credit card agreement with your deceased loved one, then you are definitely responsible for the debts. As a joint account holder, you are required to pay off all the debts incurred by the deceased. The same happens if you are the principle card holder. You have to absorb the full amount of debt of your supplementary card holder when he or she is gone.
Losing your loved ones is depressed. Although you may feel unfair to bear the debts, the legal responsibility is something you can't avoid when there is a written agreement.
