Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

Nobody in Oak Park wants to think about the prospect of a spouse’s death and how it will affect their lives emotionally, psychologically, and also financially. However, some couples need to consider such issues due to health concerns, or because they are thinking about filing for bankruptcy . We want to address some of the ways in which a spouse’s death can affect personal bankruptcy proceedings. For example, if a couple has thousands of dollars of debt that has been accrued by only one spouse, does that debt go away upon the spouse’s death? If a couple files for Chapter 13 bankruptcy together and one of the spouses passes away, how does the court handle that Chapter 13 repayment plan? We will discuss a couple of different situations that can arise when married couples accumulate debt and file for bankruptcy. Marital Debt and the Consumer Bankruptcy Option A recent article in the Los Angeles Times posed this question: What happens when one spouse has a termina...

When a loved one is sick or passes away, most of us are not thinking about consumer debt . But at some point, you may need to deal with the debt that a loved one leaves behind, particularly if the deceased person was your spouse. According to a recent article in USA Today , dealing with a loved one’s terminal illness while worrying about credit card debt can be particularly difficult. What do you need to know about consumer debt as it pertains to a recently deceased loved one? Can you be held accountable for bills and credit card debt owed by another? Family Members and Debt Possession If your spouse charges a significant amount of credit card debt, will you be responsible for that debt in the event of death? That is the question that one USA Today reader asked, concerned about consumer debt and bankruptcy. An article drafted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides some useful information about how a loved one’s debt can affect others. In general, family membe...