The short answer
Not from your own money, usually. Debts are paid from the estate. In the states used as examples here, creditors first get a set time to claim, and state law sets the order of payment when there isn't enough.
If the estate runs out, a debt that no one else shared generally goes unpaid. For a grown child, the exceptions are a debt you co-signed or shared, and an executor who doesn't follow the state's probate rules. Paying in the wrong order, or too early, are two ways that can happen.
This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.
What to do
- Make a list of every debt you know of, with each creditor's address.
- Ask the probate court how notice to creditors works there.
- Hold off paying debts until you know the claim period and the order, unless the court allows it.
- Ask any collector for a validation notice in writing.
- Keep every letter in one folder, and note every call.
- Ask a lawyer if the debts may be larger than the estate.
What can wait
- Paying any debt during the claim period, except what the court allows. Ask about bills that keep estate property safe, such as insurance on a house.
- Selling anything to raise money for debts, until you know the order and what the estate holds.
Who can help
A probate lawyer can answer a collector who says you owe a debt yourself, and can guide an estate that may be short. The probate court clerk can tell you how notice to creditors works there.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau answers questions about what debt collectors may and may not do.
The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’, courts’ and organizations’ own pages in October 2026. Where a rule differs by state, the book names one state as an example. Check anything you rely on with the office itself.
From Book 2: Being in Charge
This page has the short answer and the closing lists from chapter 7. The full chapter explains, in plain words, what exists, what to ask, and who can answer. The book covers months 1 to 9 after the death.
Questions near this one
Other questions on related subjects, from this book and the others.
- Who is in charge if no one was named? Book 1, The First Month
- What happens with Social Security payments after the death? Book 3, Their Money
- When can I hand out the inheritance? Book 2, Being in Charge
- What if we cannot agree about the house? Book 5, Siblings and the Estate
Hear when Being in Charge is out
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