<prompt> Human: Hey guys,So about 8 months ago, my father passed away. Im one of three children, and lucky me, I was appointed to handle the estate. He left kind of a mess, but Ive handled it better than I thought going into it. Normally I would have preferred to handle this earlier, but I was busy trying to keep his house from being foreclosed on he didnt pay his mortgage for a couple of months prior to his passing, and renovate the small things we could to bump up the value of his house. A couple weeks ago it was sold, and have started paying off various accounts.Yesterday, I received a call from the agent that was handling his account. I made a payment a couple months ago to stop it from going into collections not sure if this was the correct thing to do or not as this was all new to me, and they were calling essentially to see what the status on repayment was. I explained a few of the last minute issues we were dealing with like my uncle who is pursuing a claim against the estate and she offered the option of a debt settlement.So to break it down, the entire loan was 30,000, with just over 17,000 remaining. The agent suggested somewhere in the range of 80-85 in a lump sum due within 60 days after the agreement. The business is in the process of being closed down, so there is no intention of any of us taking it over. My lawyer and brother are both of the opinion that we should low ball them an offer, and let them counter with their own, but Im not really sure where a normal figure to start with is, and my lawyer isnt as much help as I would have liked. Mistake on my part. Ive never done anything like this before no debt, and really only buy what I can afford so this especially is uncharted territory. We also do have enough to cover the remaining balance, but obviously I would prefer to pay less if possible. So my questions are:Are there any negatives to taking a debt settlement in this situation? I know it usually negatively hits credit scores, but in this case, that wouldnt be an issue.Is there a general number you would open with for an offer? I know theyre at least open to 80, as that was their opening offer. Like I said, this is all kind of new to me, figuring out as I go, and most of the advice Ive found is for credit card debt settlement for individuals. Thanks in advance!Assistant: 1. Did your dad personally guarantee the business loan? If so settle for as little as you can. If not and it was taken out under the business the estate owes nothing to the business debt.2. When a business has debts that are secured against the assets only of the business and not both the personal guarantee or the owner the business would pay those debts from the operating account or the liquidation of the assets when you shut the business down.Hope it helpsHuman: So how would I go about finding if he personally guaranteed the loan? That was my thought originally, and a couple months ago was able to finally get the original copies of the loan agreement from wells fargo. They werent exactly easy getting it from them, giving me the run around. From what I could see, he only stated an income, as it was fairly high, and nothing else that I could find on the paperwork personally guaranteeing it. That just seemed odd though, as it was only signed about 5 years ago, and I thought stated income would be a thing of the past after the financial issues in 2008.  <response>: Ask, did he personally guarantee this loan? and if the answer is yes then Would you send me a copy of the guarantee he signed? 