Hello, I have been a poster on this site for a while but created this account for self-doxx reasons. I would be happy to post under my regular account if other users think that would be safe. I’m going out on a limb posting this because legal advice is expensive and I am a working class college student in CA, USA, and you know how that goes. In short, my parent died a few months ago, without a will or a spouse, they had a small estate, and I need good advice on how to deal with their credit card debts. I understand that, as their child, I am under no obligation to pay them, but I am worried the creditors will come for a chunk of the estate if I try to take possession of my parent’s bank accounts. It seems like it might be a can of worms.

Side note, I have not canceled their credit cards or really done anything with their finances yet. No doubt, interest and late fees are accruing, so I should probably deal with this sooner rather than later.

My parent did not make much money in their life or own much, but they did manage to buy a house a few years ago in a rural county of California. They paid the mortgage and all their other bills with their Social Security checks, their only source of income. I have one sibling, who is trusting me to act as the representative of the estate. Well, the problem is we’re both basically clueless on this stuff, having practically no financial or legal education. So I’m appealing to Hexbear to give me some advice on how to handle the banks.

Since I am generally disgusted with the institution of landlording, I do not want to rent out the house (probably infeasible anyway), I want to sell it as soon as possible. California considers our parent’s estate to be a small estate, meaning there is no “full” probate process, just hopefully one court date and creditors do not have to be notified, to my current understanding. But my worry is that, if I try to take possession of our parent’s bank accounts (which, I believe, contain a few hundred dollars tops, because our parent was behind on several bills and really struggling financially for a long time) the banks will try to claw back what they owed on their credit cards, taking a significant chunk out of the equity, which I am somewhat counting on to help me finish my degree. I am well on the way to running out my financial aid, so this is pivotal for me.

I have yet to gain access to my parent’s online accounts, and ultimately might not be able to (I have yet to find any login info to their bank portal, main email account, etc.). I am still working on clearing out their house. It’s a miserable process between the ass weather and having to drive several hours each way from where I live, while still trying to attend classes and work my jobs part time, and the bills keep piling up. So, I have yet to address the credit card issue; I have not even called them up to cancel the cards yet.

Where should I go from here? How should I deal with the banks in a way that doesn’t end up with the vampires trying to suck us dry/us getting fucked over?

EDIT: Gonna shamelessly ask everyone to upbear this post even if you don't have answers/advice so hopefully someone who knows can see it. Thank you!! —Follow up: Thank you everyone who boosted this post, now I'm a little embarrassed that it got promoted to the front page but I guess that's literally what I asked for. I will probably follow StellarTabi's advice and delete it soon, repost elsewhere. Thank you everyone who has weighed in on my questions.

EDIT: Probably worth mentioning that my parent caught COVID at least once and I believe their death was partly due to that. The condition they died of was associated with post-infection risk factors of COVID. In my opinion, it was a social murder and I now have a permanent grudge against the political establishment and the system that did this to us.

  • questionasker69 [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The accounts (vague amounts, again for self-doxx reasons):

    • Wells Fargo, several thousand dollars owed (less than $10,000).
    • Bank of America, over $19,000 owed but less than $25,000 owed.

    I have ascertained that they had checking and probably savings accounts with both banks.

    • StellarTabi [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      $35,000 in debt but they've only paid $10,000 into the mortgage?

      How much was the sale price of the home and what is it's current value? (I don't actually need to know).

      If the current value is more than $25,000 over the sale price, you probably have more equity in the house than debt, so you could sell it, pay off the debt, keep the leftovers.

      Otherwise, you'd be selling the house and it's value would be less than the full debt of the credit cards. They can legally claim all your parent's stuff up to the value of that debt, so that might leave you with nothing. I don't think they can come after you unless you try to "sneak" the house's title under your name, and I don't know the probability of them not figuring that out. I assume /r/LegalAdvice would say it's a high chance.

      In the second house scenario, we'd probably want to strategize on some ways to extract value from the house before foreclosing starts, assuming the credit card companies debt collection attempts anything. Might even want an estate lawyer or something to make sure you're not doing anything illegal or putting yourself at personal liability.

        • questionasker69 [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Understood. Actually, I must be wrong about the $10,000 figure, but in any case I should probably delete this account after I've gotten the advice and orientation that I need. Or at least scrub the personal details so other people can get answers (I know I needed something like this when it first happened). Thank you for your input!

          What did you have in mind with:

          we’d probably want to strategize on some ways to extract value from the house before foreclosing starts ?

          I've been pulling out all the appliances and tools that I can find and bringing them back to my apartment, and of course some sentimental things, but were you thinking of something else?

          • StellarTabi [none/use name]
            ·
            2 years ago

            IDK, might need a thread just for this question from others.

            For example, if it's going to be forclosed and selling is the bank's problem, then you could AirBNB it out. It won't matter if the tenants trash it because it'll be the bank or the bidder at an auction who has to actually repair/remodel it. Less ethically, you could sell the copper and AC/heating.

            You could also attend the auction to see if you could get it back for a fraction of it's full value, but probably don't have enough liquid cash even if it goes as low as 50k.