My Mother passed away a2 weeks ago. She had credit card debt. Should I contact her creditors ? She had considerable debt. When she went into the nursing home last 8 months ago, her credit cards went unpaid. Do you send letters or call them? How is suppose to be handled?
Mother didn't have any real debt just little things on a couple of cards she used to keep credit current.
Sorry for your loss. It is just tough business losing our Moms. Best wishes.
I was faced with this same issue after my dad died. He too died with substantial unpaid debts. He had been in a nursing home and his mail was coming to my house so I called his creditors to report that he had died. The creditors all have his birthdate so it was obvious to them that my dad wasn't hiding out from them, trying to get out of paying. Some asked for a death certificate, some didn't.
By the time my dad had died I was practically ready for a nursing home myself just from stress so the last thing I wanted to do was to call of these people and deal with that stuff but I had called some of them previously to report that my dad was in a nursing home. I was trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, my personal phone number got attached to his accounts and I was bombarded with calls for weeks and weeks. It was a nightmare.
Get your mom's mail stopped and mail a death certificate to each creditor. Some companies have estate departments that deal just with this kind of thing. Don't give away any of your information and remember that POA stops after death (if a creditor tries to tell you that you may be on the hook for the debt because you were POA it's not true).
It took a little time for the calls and my dad's mail to stop but little by little it stopped.