Debts and Credit

My husband died intestate in Colorado. His and my only descendant is our daughter who was 21 years old at the time of his death. We were supporting her while she attended college. She was a junior when he died. Most of our property and assets were held jointly, including our home, cars, checking and savings accounts. I was the beneficary of his life insurance and a savings account and 401k's established through his employers. Basically, all assets of value became my sole property because they were held jointly or passed to me as a beneficiary. I did not obtain legal advice as there was no will to probate and no estate to settle as his only personal property (his clothing and jewelry I gave him as gifts) would be worth less than the $26,000 which Colorado excludes from an estate to go to the surviving spouse. He had no other property that was titled in his name only - only personal property such as clothing, jewelry, a few tools he brought to the marriage and possessions like that. My husband had a credit card in his own name. I was an additional card holder only. After his death I made payments on the card for almost two years even though I was not contractually oblilgated to do so. The payments totalled about $7,000. I recently informed the card company I can no longer make the payments and that I was not a party to the contract and had no responsibility to pay off the debt. They referred the matter to collections which says the estate is responsible for satisfying the debt. I do not want to incur the legal expense of having to "prove" to the collections company that there was no remaining estate by getting legal counsel and having the matter settled by the courts. However, I don't think they're going to go away with just my explanation of why there is no estate. I'd like to know if I'm correct in my assessment of my standings with regard to (1) my not being responsible for the credit card debt, and (2) there being no estate to settle. Additionally, if I am forced to incur legal expenses to defend my position on the lack of an estate to pay the credit card debt, is there any recourse against the collections company? Do they have the burden or proof or do I?

A collection agency called my job about a student loan I had from way back when I was 18 and lived in NJ. They called my job and told me they are going to garnish my wages. Can they do that? And can they also call my job? Are they allowed to do that? How do I stop them from calling my job? I don't want to get fired.

Who is responsible for the debts of the deceased? Can the adult children be held responsible or is it just the spouse?

I have had excellent credit all of my adult life....and I will be 50 this month. Unfortunately, after a bad marriage and divorce, I was left basically destitute and very ill. I am actually considered disabled by the medical community. However, as opposed to taking it lying down, I have been busting my butt to get my own recruiting business up and running. I have been living on borrowed money from my credit cards for a couple of years, which has been no problem in the past, because I was able to get the funds at anywhere from 0.00% to 1.99% interest because of my credit history. I also had relatively large limits on my cards, again, due to my excellent credit and history with the companies. I have been working unbelieveably hard, long hours to get my company started and have no doubt it will get there, but....the time line has not worked out. Now, my back is against the wall. I am maxed out on all 3 cards I have (totaling about 55K), the "special" low interest rates are about to change to the max rates, as the special programs I got the monies on have expired, and I have absolutely no way of paying them off. I don't really want to file backruptcy and totally ruin my credit for the next 10 years, plus I own a home that my family is making the payments on for me each month while I get myself up to speed. I also have a wonderful 20 year old daughter, in college, that I have to consider. Is there any way I can get help (relief from) with these credit card debts? Is there any way, either because I am technically unemployed, as well as physically disabled, that I can be relieved of the debt? This isn't what I wanted to happen.....I know it will damage my 30+ years of excellent credit for a few years (but not as bad as bankruptcy would).....but I have no other options at this point. It is all up to me to provide a home and all of the necessities for my daughter and myself and I have been doing my best to do so, but it just hasn't happened fast enough. I have got to have some relief. It was never my intention to default on the money I borrowed from my credit cards and, by the way, it wasn't used for vacations and shopping sprees. I borrowed the money to live on, buy groceries, pay bills, etc.. My health has just not improved at all over the years (in fact, I had surgery again on February 12, 2007) and I am doing my best, still, to create a company and a source of income to provide for our future. However....the time has come to address all of this debt and I have no way of paying it. What are my options????

I was given a credit card with a $1000.00 limit and later that limit was reduced by $300.00. The Letter from the bank stated "authorizations at high risk merchants" I later find out that the "high risk merchants" wasn't that at all. The customer service rep stated that "I used my card too frequently". I was never late, never went over my limit and paid more than my minimum payment. Do I have a discrimination case when there was no basis for the limit decrease?