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Executor vs Decedent's Credit Card Debt---

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J

Jolen

Guest
I live in New Jersey and am the executor for an old friend.
Iwas able to find what I thought were all his assets and liabilities. Creditors were paid and all remaining assets were transferred to his son, his sole heir.
After the will was probated, I discovered that his son hid two credit cards from me and began using them as his own.
Now,the two credit card companies want me to pay what
they perceive to be the deceased's debt to them. The estate no longer has any assets since the sole heir sold the home he inherited and has disappeared.
The credit card companies want their money (a substantial amount) from me and have implied I will be sued to settle the claims they have filed. Am I personally responsible for these debts even though I did not know they existed when the will was probated?
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
To get yourself out of this alone may be impossible, and will wind up getting you in the middle of litigation. The best approach is to consult with the counsel who handled the estate matter and get her advice now.

If I read between the lines, there was no outstanding obligation to the credit card company either at the time of the death or at the point when you made the distribution and it appears that only then did the son run up the charges. The only thing you may have failed to do was notify the card issuer of an account you were ignorant of.

The son is fully and primarily responsible for the charges he ran up. He also may well be guilty of criminal fraud. However as you were the executor, they have come after you, presumambly because you have more wealth and are easier to find. If there is a claim against you, you would in turn seek to collect from the son, or from other beneficiaries who received money that given the hidden liability shouldn't have been distributed.

But just maybe your counsel can short circuit that by dealing with the credit card company and/or by impressing on the son that he will be sued for civil fraud and charges will be lodged with the police.
 

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