As the title says Dad's Chase Visa has $3200. He was basically bankrupt at death. The only asset is his house which is jointly owned with my mother (she is still paying the mortgage for 6 more years).
The credit card was in his name only (no idea what the hell he purchased for the debt).
Is she liable for this in any way? Is the house safe?
This is in the state of Georgia btw.
Dad died, had credit card debt of about $3200 no assets other than a house that my mom has joint ownership in (and is not paid off)
byu/vipergirl inpersonalfinance
Posted by vipergirl
10 Comments
Best I can tell the house passed to your Mom when dad passed, and only Dad’s personal assets will be considered his estate for purposes of paying off the debt.
I’d highly recommend your mom work with their lender to make sure this is all formalized so the house cannot be touched, and it can’t hurt to confirm with them (in writing) that the house is not affected when that’s all in place.
Send them a copy of the death certificate and tell them that no liquid assets are left.
What is the exact wording on the title to the house? What state is the house in?
There is a specific procedure you should follow to avoid any issues in the future with the creditors coming back later to demand payment from your mom. The exact details vary from state to state but generally:
1. Someone is appointed as executor of the estate. (Could be you, your mom, or someone else entirely).
2. All KNOWN creditors are notified by mail of the death. They then have a short period (90 days in my state) to submit their claim. If they don’t, the debt is forever barred.
3. A notice to creditors is published in a local newspaper (who reads those anymore?). This is to notify any creditors that may not be known at the time of death. The creditors have another set period of time to submit their claims (6 months in my state), or their claims suffer a similar fate.
If the procedure is not followed correctly, the executor can become liable to pay the depts.
When my mom died she had two credit card accounts as liabiities, a small bank account, and her house as an asset. One of the credit card companies filed a claim, the other one didn’t. Both had been officially notified by mail. Only the one that filed a claim was paid.
Your state may have a homestead exception for your mom’s primary residence, but generally if it’s in both their names, the creditors get paid before the assets are transfered fully to her name. Again, there are some differences as to how this is handled from state to state.
Do NOT pay a penny to Chase. You are not obligated to pay. No one is. They will write it off as a loss.
$3,200 or $32,000? From reading numerous other reddit postings asking this question, it does not seem that the credit card companies are very interested in going to the time, trouble and expense to try and recover a few hundred or a few thousand and will likely write this off. So sorry for your loss.
Check with an attorney.
Contrary to Social media lawyers, his estate is *actually* responsible for debts after his death. However, there are ways to avoid same; Posting notices in the paper (yes, they still do that) stating something along the lines of “*Joe died on 08/27/25….if he owes you money….you have until October 30th to notify the family at ________________________”*
I’m pretty certain that’s not valid legal advice but…a good attorney can tighten that up for you.
Yes and no.
“In Georgia, if you die without a will, any assets leftover after your debts are paid off will go to your living relatives.”
[https://www.georgialegalaid.org/resource/what-happens-when-someone-dies-without-a-will-in-georgia](https://www.georgialegalaid.org/resource/what-happens-when-someone-dies-without-a-will-in-georgia)
he debt is part of your dad’s estate, so it would need to be paid from any assets that are only in his name before anything passes to heirs. Because your mom has joint ownership of the house, it’s usually protected from his creditors as long as she continues paying the mortgage. She should keep documentation showing her sole contributions to the mortgage and consult a probate or estate attorney if the credit card company contacts her.
Sorry for your lost. Georgia is a common law state NOT a community property state so, your dad estate is liable for the debt NOT your mother.
The house is NOT part of the estate any joint bank/stock accounts are now your mothers and not part of the estate