Real Answers for Life’s Money Challenges
My best friend was recently killed by a drunk driver.
Im helping her husband sort everything out, and weve discovered she was hiding credit card debt.
She also had several student loans he didnt know about.
Trying to climb out of debt? Here are50 ways to bring in extra money this month.
His name wasnt on any of it.
Is he liable for these debts?
-Picking Up the Pieces
Dear Picking Up,
What a senseless and heartbreaking loss.
Im glad the two of you are supporting each other at this awful time.
In all likelihood, your friends husband wont be responsible for the money she owed.
When someonedies with debt, the debt becomes part of their estate.
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All that gets sorted out in probate court.
However, some assets avoid probate altogether and go directly to the person listed as a beneficiary.
Creditors wouldnt have a chance to claim these assets during probate.
Clearly thats not the case here.
Our team has compiled alist of creative waysyou can fatten your bank account this week.
This is a long list, so dont get overwhelmed.
Go ahead and start now, but be sure to bookmark this post so you might easily return later.
Well keep it updated as offers changes or expire.
This applies even if the spouse was unaware of the debt.
However, creditors cant sue someone for debt their spouse racked up prior to the marriage.
If that happens, he can send them a certified letter requesting that they cease contact.
Her husband may also want to notify the credit bureaus of her death.
That way, the credit bureaus will flag her accounts and note that she is deceased.
He can do so on one bureaus website.
The bureaus will share this information with each other, so he only needs to do this once.
Taking this step can prevent identity thieves from taking out additional debt in his wifes name.
My heart goes out to you and your best friends husband.
Send your tricky money questions to[email protected].
(Can you sense my millennial sarcasm there?)
You know which ones were talking about: rent, utilities, cell phone bill, insurance, groceries…
