My father passed 8+ months ago with a large credit card debt, he has no assets, no executor, no administrator
had some large purchases before his death. I’m his only daughter, no family, mom (other half not wife) passed two weeks after he did.
I just don’t want to get sued or anything. Terrified idk, help please.
Any advice?
Ohio
Deceased parent no estate advice
byu/Cornflake_George848 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Cornflake_George848
12 Comments
You’re not required to probate his estate just because you’re his child
You can just walk away from it.
her double standards prove that you are doing the right and mature thing
You’re not responsible for his debts.
If he has assets which require an estate to be probated, the creditors have a right to probate claims against the estate. If a claim is probated, his executor or administrator will be required to pay the claims before the estate is closed. If he has no home, car, bank account or investments, you don’t have to do anything. If you find out he did own property when he died, you should consult a lawyer to determine whether an estate needs to be probated.
You’re fine. Don’t worry. They might call and harass you for money, they still call me about my mom 2+ years later. Don’t acknowledge you are his daughter, tell them wrong number and move on. You didn’t force him to do anything and you aren’t legally liable for anything at this point.
Try to ignore the scum that is debt collection.
There are free legal aid options out there. can’t promise that it’ll cover your specific scenario, but might be worth exploring. Quick search turned up this:
[https://www.ohiolegalhelp.org/guide/seniors](https://www.ohiolegalhelp.org/guide/seniors)
I know this stuff is a lot. Especially if you feel like you’re navigating it solo. Take care of yourself – lean on your community a little bit, if you aren’t already. A good listener goes a long way, even if they aren’t an expert who can offer concrete advice.
No stocks? No house? No accounts? No problem…you aren’t on the hook for any debt, specially cc debt. If he does have bank accounts get a death certificate and talk to a friendly accounts rep to find out if he had a POD in his accounts, if so hopefully it’s you. Make sure his SS is stopped.
My mom died in Feb of 2020. She had zero assets. I was paying for the stuff Medicare wouldn’t pay for. The only post-death thing that happened beyond a cremation and a memorial service was Social Security. The last payment had to be divided among heirs. So I sent in the SSNs and info for my three brothers and me. We each received about $60.
That’s it. No probate, nothing to distribute, etc. She had no credit card or other debt. We had sold her house and her business a few years before she died.
One of my bothers died a few years before she did. We just wrote “deceased, return to sender” on all the bills. Eventually, they stopped bothering us. He had nothing.
If it matters, this was in Indiana.brothers
First off, take a breath — in most cases you are not personally responsible for your father’s credit card debt unless you co-signed something. If he had no estate and no assets, creditors generally can’t just come after you because you’re his daughter.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’d avoid paying anything or verbally agreeing that the debt is yours, and if collectors call, just tell them he passed away and there’s no estate being probated.
A) you owe nothing end of story
B) you should hire a lawyer and use their money to pay the lawyer
C) there is an order to who gets paid from the estate the lawyer will help with this
Reddit will give you ideas but not answers
You arent responsible for his debt
They can call you and ask you to settle it, but in my own experience losing my dad they never did- but ive heard stories of them doing so anecdotally– and those phonecalls never got past “im sorry he is deceased”
I still, rarely, like once every other month, get something in the mail from a bill collector with his name on it and i just throw them in the garbage without even opening them. I tracked down every account during me settling the estate/his affairs and told them he was dead, and did a search for any life insurance and/or retirement accounts/assets so these people still sending me mail are either unscrupulous or bought bad debt from some other shady debt collection agency neither of which is my problem
If he didnt have any assets you have a claim to you can just walk away entirely and not worry about it.
I was in a similar situation when my mentally ill mom died. She was a recluse and talked to no one. We didn’t even know where she was living when we got the news. She had no home, no car, no assets, no credit cards. No one in town would even take a check from her. She had a lot of medical debt. We found out her utilities had been shut off here and there for nonpayment. We literally had 2 weeks to get all the crap out of her slum apartment before the slumlord was going to charge another month’s rent.
We found out that people with a lot of debt and no funds or assets didn’t have to go through probate. So, we didn’t. I got a lot of debt notices after she died for a few years after. I just told them the estate was bankrupt. Nothing else happened to me or my 4 siblings.
It was just a messy, horrible situation to deal with. We carted out 40 bags of garbage in the first hour. The only salvageable items were photographs. For some reason, she kept all those. It was just a traumatic experience.
If he bought stuff for you it could be an issue. If he bought stuff for himself and you just ended up with it thats a bit more of a grey area. But you do not owe his debts so dont fall for any debt collectors threatening you. If he bought it car the money he owes on it may cause them to come get the car but if he bought dinner no one is going to be able to make you pay for it.