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Collections Law/Is my mother responsible?

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Expert: Kathleen Eads - 4/22/2006


Question
My father passed away more than a year ago and left a credit card debt, this credit card is on his name only, my mother did not sign anything,my father gave her a card as authorized user, Is she responsible for his debt, my father have no will or estate.

Thank you,
Tess (California)  

Answer
Tess,

Your parents lived in a community property state, where debts incurrred by either spouse would be considered a "shared" debt, so to speak.  

I have included a link that will explain this for you in more detail.  

http://www.fairmark.com/spousal/comprop.htm

Hope this helps!

Kathleen Crabtree

Collections Law

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Kathleen Eads

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Having spent almost a decade with a Commercial Collection agency, Kathleen can answer questions related to collections~calls, motivating debtors to pay, skip-tracing. She now works for National Skip Trace Network (NSTN), providing premier technological Directory Assistance to the collections (www.nstn.net) industry via the internet.

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Travelers Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, CNA Insurance, USF & G, Liberty Mutual, ACS, Asst Acceptance, Pinnacle, Penncro, Superior Asset Mgmt, PRM, Collins Financial, CBE Group

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