credit & collection problems

washington am i liable for my dead husbands credit card debts my name is not on them nor have i ever signed on them there is no estate and no insurance one card keeps harrassing me and telling me i am liable while all the others say i am not my question am i liable or not?

I'm not an attorney so I can't give you advice on this matter, only my opinion which is that while there may be a way you could be held liable because of the way the laws are written in your state, I tend to think that you are not liable while his estate may be liable for the debts he left behind. Since his estate, if any, would naturally fall to you or to his children if any other than with you then the net effect would be that of a liability you would have to meet. So it may be an estate matter that ends up affecting you even though you yourself might not be personally liable. It might end up being a matter for the courts to decide.

I'd say you may need some good legal advice on the matter and may want to seek legal counsel if there is any estate they might be able to go after.

[email]ceo@creditwrench.com[/email] [url]http://www.creditwrench.com[/url]

[JETX]

Normally (?) a surviving spouse wouldn't be liable for a deceased spouses debt, it would be responsibility of the estate.

However, since Washington is a community property state, there could be some liability for you, especially if the debt was incurred for the 'common' marital estate.

In this case, I agree with bbauer when he advised that you get legal counsel for the applicability of this debt.

[racer72]

Something to watch for in dealing with debts in Washington state. If you at anytime paid on the debt in which you signed the vehicle of payment (check, money order, etc), you can then be held liable for the full debt. There are ways around this though.

You may wish to read the following state statutes concerning debts of the deceased.
[url]http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/ViewRoot.asp?Action=Html&Item=3&X=1228072105&p=1[/url]

[url]http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/ViewRoot.asp?Action=Html&Item=6&X=1228072105&p=1[/url]


[url]http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/ViewRoot.asp?Action=Html&Item=11&X=1228072105&p=1[/url]

You may wish to have an attorney draft a letter to the creditor explaining that the estate has complied with the laws of the state and that they are SOL.

Clicking on all 3 of your links I get an error message saying something about my session having timed out. I'm sure your information is very good and I'd sure like to see it. Can you help out here somehow?

[email]ceo@creditwrench.com[/email] [url]http://www.creditwrench.com[/url]