Am I or my parents liable for my deceased brother's debts?

Full question:

My brother (38 yrs. old) died suddenly on 3/9/07 and $1600 past due in rent is owed to the landlord. The roommate had paid his half of the rent to my brother and my brother did not pay the landlord. The roommate had a yard sale and was able to get the landlord $1,100. In an emotional state at the time of my brother's death, I made a committment to get the landlord the $500 - my brother has about $600.00 in his checking acct. that I would like to use to pay the landlord. The landlord has contacted me once already and I returned his call to let him know that I will settle up with him. I have not had any contact with the landlord since I left a message and I have not had any contact with the roommate in the last 3 weeks. I am going to keep my committment, but, I personally do not have $500 to give to the landlord - and since this is my brother's debt I feel the money should be used from his acct. There is no will, estate or anything to probate. Am I obligated to any time frame to pay the landlord. Legally can he come after me or my elderly parents?

• Category: Wills and Estates
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Florida

Answer:

A deceased's debts should be paid with the property in their estate (the property left at their death). Children don't inherit their parent's debts unless they created a co-signor/guarantor/surety/joint account relationship to the debt, so that the child's name is on the debt also, and it isn't a separate debt. Spouses will generally only be liable for a separate debt of the deceased if they live in a community proerty state. However, state laws vary about which marriage partner is responsible for certain debts, depending upon when the debt was incurred, the identity of the debtor, or the purpose of the debt.

Only after the debts are paid will the remaining assets be distributed among the beneficiaries of the will. Be advised that when a child inherits property that is collateral for a debt -- for example, a car that is not paid for or a house with a mortgage -- the debt comes with the property. If there is insufficient money or assets to pay all creditors, then the estate must be divided up as equally as possible, with secured creditors receiving priority. This means that if the deceased parent died with little or no money in their accounts and didn't own a home, unsecured debt, such as credit card debt will not be paid to the creditors.