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Cradit card payments for deceased relative

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acmb05

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Tennessee

My grandmother passed away two years ago. At the time she owed over 7000 in credit card debt to Sears. In her last months I handled all of her money which was not much and paid her bills for her. I did not know about the Sears card so I did not pay it the first month. Of course she gets calls from them which she never remembered. Anyway I am checking her mail one day and see the notice from Sears so I call and explain to them what is going on and that I will be sending out a payment that day. All is good and fine until now.

I notified all of her creditors when she passed away including Sears. No one filed a claim against her estate. She was on SS when she passed and only had around 3000 dollars in savings. She owned no property or anything so I assumed they all wrote it off instead of going thrru the process of filing to get next to nothing anyway.

Now it is 2 years later and Sears is calling me and threatening to take me to court because I agreed to pay her bill for her. I never agreed to that and sent them a letter stating what happened. They are saying that I agreed to be responsible for her debt and that now I ned to pay it or face a civil suit for the balance.

Can they do this because I was managing her money at the time and told them I would be sending them the payments? Does this constitute me agreeing to pay off the cradit card after she passed away?
 


Ladynred

Senior Member
Can they do this because I was managing her money at the time and told them I would be sending them the payments? Does this constitute me agreeing to pay off the cradit card after she passed away?
No, and NO !

YOU are not liable for her debts AT ALL. If her estate went thru probate and there were no claims against it, then all the creditors are S.O.L. (and that's not a time limit !!) - period. Send Sears and any of her other creditors a copy of her death certificate and leave it at that. Making payments does NOT shift liability for a deceased person's debts to surviving heirs. The collection agency for Sears is just trying to scare you - tell them to get stuffed!
 

garrula lingua

Senior Member
I wouldn't do any explaining to Sears, other than sending their letter back to them with the copy of the death certificate attached to it, as Red said.

Don't take any phone calls from them, either.
 

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