Death of a family member is something that is hard for everyone to deal with, but if the deceased left debts that need to be dealt with the survivors have an even harder time. Dealing with death is stressful enough, but creditors still want to be paid and they will only wait for so long before accounts are sent into collections. The debts that are left by the deceased are paid out their estate which is the money and property that is left when they died. If you are the surviving spouse or civil partner, you are only responsible for debts that you had with the deceased on a joint arrangement.

The deceased's estate is made up of their available cash including insurance payments, investments, property, and possessions they had at the time of their death. The estate is handled by a person called the executor if there was a will or by an administrator if there was no will. These people are usually a solicitor or family member that the deceased assigns. When the estate exceeds a certain amount of money, the executor or administrator will be required to obtain a probate or letters of administration to deal with the estate, pay off the debts, and make sure that the deceased's requests are met.

Sometimes there is not enough money to take care of the estate. When this happens, the funeral and burial costs are paid first followed by the deceased's creditors and then the people named in the will. The people in the will are usually the ones that will not get the share the deceased promised them because of the debts. And believe it or not, a person can be deemed to bankruptcy even after they have passed away. If you should happen to be the surviving spouse and there is not enough money to pay your late spouse's debts, you may be forced to sell your home to simply cover the debts that were left.

How are the debts paid off? Here is a quick rundown of the most common debts that are often left in an estate that need to be paid before anything else.
• Mortgages - these are sometimes paid off completely if the debtor had life insurance. Otherwise the property may need to be sold if there is no money in the estate to cover the debt.
• Rent - the joint tenant becomes responsible for any arrears
• Water - whoever is living on the property is responsible for arrears and ongoing charges, even if they are not listed on the bill
• Council tax - whoever is living on the property is responsible for arrears and ongoing charges, even if they are not listed on the bill
• Fuel - whoever is living on the property is responsible for arrears and ongoing charges, even if they are not listed on the bill
• Hire purchase - the creditor can reclaim the property unless over one third of the total bill has been paid. They need to get a court order to claim the property in this case.
• Personal loans, credit cards, and other credit debt - all other debts must be settled first. Joint credit lines become the joint holder's responsibility
• Tax debt and overpayment of benefits - repayment would come out of the estate money
• Credit Cards - normally there is a balance on the credit cards that needs to be paid

Many of these creditors offer some form of insurance that will pay off the debt in the event of illness or death. You need to check to see if the deceased had any of these insurance policies that will pay off the debt upon receipt of proof of death.