my husbands death and his will

[sunshine1028]

my husband and i were married for 5 1/2 years,for some reason we never got my name put on our home and land but he left a will leaving everything to me.i took this to the lawyer to get probated and he also told me now i must pay off all his debts,the home we live in is only worth 28,000 and the debt will be for 22,000.i am disabled with 2 children(from another marriage) and only receive 572.00 a month,my lawyer says i must remortgage this home to pay his debts off(they were in his name only) my ex-husband already ruined my credit and had me in credit card debt for about 75,000 a few years ago,no one would even think about loaning me any money.please,what,if anything can i do to protect my children and me from possible losing this home,that is, if his other children don't contest his will..ps,he commited suicide,so did his father and 6 other family members,something about being a chemical imbalance . any advice would be so greatly appreciated and god bless you!!! i live in pennsylvania

 

[advisor10]

2-23-2002

DEAR SUNSHINE1028:

So sorry about the difficult situation you are facing in a time of loss.

You really do need to fire the first attorney and get a second opinion from 2-3 more. It would not be wise to sell your home to pay off your husband's debts, and it is possible that you will not even need to do this. You can not be held responsible for your husband's debts if he did not leave enough money in his estate to pay for them, and the debts will have to remain unpaid, and the creditors will need to be informed that his estate is bankrupt. They will eventually write the debts off as bad debts in about a year, but you really to do need to get the second opinion from another attorney as to whether you are liable for your husband's debts (sometimes credit card debts are in a special category as to where you MIGHT be partially responsible).

Since his estate has no value, it may not even be necessary to probate the will, but the attorney can tell you whether or not that is necessary. You do need to get your name officially added to the real estate/title/deed if you haven't done so already, and a real estate attorney or real estate agent can tell you how to do that. I'm not sure from your message if you mean that your husband's debts are for $22,000 or whether you mean that is the balance due on the house you are living in how.

But you do need to try to keep the home if you intend to keep making monthly payments on it until the mortgage is paid off in full.


SINCERELY,

advisor