What happens to credit card debt after death?

By Dana Dratch

Posted by Ahmed Al-Salem

You can't take it with you, but do credit card bills follow you into the grave? Does that debt die with you? Or can it come back to haunt those left behind?

What happens to your credit card when you die?There's no one-size-fits-all answer. A number of factors, including where you live and who applied for the card, can radically alter the situation.

Here's the simple part: If the card was yours alone, with no joint account holders, the debt is yours alone, too.

When you die, your estate is responsible for paying off the balance. If the estate goes through probate, your administrator or executor will look at your assets and debts and, guided by law, determine in what order bills should be paid. Remaining assets will be distributed to heirs by following your will (if you have one), or state law (if you don't).

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