What happens if you don't pay a deceased person's credit card debt?

When a loved one dies, financial questions often arrive alongside grief over the loss. Bank accounts must be closed, insurance claims need to be filed and final bills continue to arrive long after funeral arrangements have been made. In turn, those administrative responsibilities can feel particularly overwhelming, especially if the deceased person had any outstanding debt. Right now, it's common to encounter that issue.

Borrowers are carrying record levels of household debt, after all, and credit card balances remain elevated, meaning that it's increasingly common for surviving relatives to discover that a parent, spouse or other family member left behind unpaid obligations. But when a credit card statement shows up in the mail after a death, the question of who is supposed to pay it tends to follow...