Question: I am the administrator of an estate. A credit card company sent an email to the decedent’s workplace, and it was not forwarded to me as administrator. Is the estate responsible for paying the debt?
Loraine’s Answer: If you are the administrator of an estate and you have any reason to know that the decedent may have owed a debt, then you have a duty to attempt to notify the creditor of the death and make sure the debt, if legitimate, is paid.
In Georgia, the creditor is not even required to contact you before that obligation arises (these rules differ from state to state). It’s your responsibility to determine whether the decedent had any debts by:
- Publishing a Notice to Debtors and Creditors, generally as soon as possible after you have been issued Letters of Administration or Letters Testamentary.
- Searching through the decedent’s records.
- Directly contacting any potential creditors that you discover.
If a creditor has attempted to make contact and you are aware of that, you need to address it. Ignoring a debt can make the debt your personal liability if you distribute assets to other creditors, heirs, or beneficiaries and leave a legitimate debt unpaid.
If you think a claim against the estate may not be legitimate, you have the obligation to investigate it. Ask the creditor for more information if you can’t confirm from the decedent’s own records whether the debt is legitimate. If you think that a debt is fraudulent or otherwise not a valid claim, you don’t have to pay it. However, in that case, you should also be prepared to ideally file a formal Petition for Discharge of Personal Representative, list the unpaid claim on that Petition, and describe to the court why you did not pay the debt.
Key Estate Planning Takeaways: If an estate administrator has reason to know that a potential claim against an estate exists, the claim cannot be ignored—it must be addressed. If the administrator doesn’t properly investigate and pay the decedent’s outstanding debts, the administrator could become personally responsible for the unpaid amounts.
This “Q&A with Loraine” blog series is inspired by answers from Morgan + DiSalvo Partner Loraine DiSalvo to actual user questions posted by individuals on www.avvo.com. This blog is a more in-depth response than is permitted on their site. To view the original question and Loraine’s abbreviated response, click here.
