<prompt> Human: I am a 28 and recently learned from my 31 yo brother that my parents really dropped the ball with both of our student loans. Basically they took out what amounted to 250K in loans and consolidated multiple times over the course of a couple of years. They then for whatever reason my brother and I have yet to confront them about this but plan to after the holidays stopped making payments since 2010. So now interest has been accumulating and the interest has essentially doubled the total amount of the loans to 500K. My brother and I have been paying our own other student loans we both thought were the extent of what we owed. I have been making payments of 210 a month since I graduated that my dad didnt roll into the other loans. We both live in major cities with well-paying jobs however we both have high expenses and dont have extra income to start paying much higher monthly student loan payments. We both held jobs throughout college and had an understanding with our parents that they were going to help us pay for most of our college education provided we worked and got good grades, which we both did. What makes things even more complicated is that my parents separated while I was a senior in high school a few months before I headed off to college about 8 years ago. They are amicable when the kids are around but live completely separate lives with new significant others. This is likely a huge cause for the stop in payments. Whether they were fighting over who owed what or they fell on hard times we have no idea.The good news:All of the loans are in my fathers name and as far as we know are completely non-transferable to my brother and I. So when he passes away, theyd go after him and all of his assets but could not come after us. Essentially we dont have a solid ironed-out plan yet to get this resolved. We just found out about this a week or so ago. Im shocked. Im angry at my parents. Im angry at myself for not finding out about this sooner. Im in disbelief that my parents could be so incompetent about this. Communication has never been my familys strong suit and is a big reason why theyre no longer together. They both are professionals still working. My dad started a small business after he retired from his career in 2007 and my mom is a working professional as well. My brother and I speculate that this debt is probably killing my dads personal finances and business as we cant imagine him being able to get a further loan or even open a credit card.I understand this is long and I appreciate any advice from fellow redditors.  <response>: Instead of planning ahead and saving for college they opted to take out parental loans to help with their portion of college. You also then took out your own loans in your names. They did not even tell you. Had you known you might have went to less expensive colleges etc. I fail to see where the loans they took out are yours to pay? Further if I was paying these for them or any portion I would make sure that if they have any assets at all that you are in line to inherit those vs the new spouses done with a post nup and will in most states. Why do you feel these loans are your responsibility? It does not even appear that your parents believe they are yours to pay. 