<prompt> Human: Will my wife have to pay them? We have not jointly consolidated. My parents have co-signed on several. What about those? Will my parents have to pay those back? I dont have life insurance, but I would consider taking it out if either my wife or parents would be responsible for my debt should something happen to me.  <response>: I watched this situation play out from the sidelines when a friends best friend died suddenly at 25 about 6 months ago. She had a lot of student loans, some from the government, some private. The government loans I believe were just written off. Her private loans all had co-singers. All but one company wrote them off as soon as they received the death certificate. One company decided not to even after receiving the certificate and started sending letters to her 80-something year old grandfather, who had so-signed the loan, demanding he start paying back the 20,000 loan right away I guess they dont even bother applying their usual grace period if you die instead of graduating or dropping out.My friend went to the media, the story eventually ended up on The Consumerist, and within a day someone from the company contacted her to say they had changed their minds and were writing off the loans.So, basically - if you pass away without life insurance or an estate that could cover the cost of the loans, and your parents were co-signers, there is a chance the company will go after them for the loans. It seems to really depend on the company. If you can afford the life insurance and are willing to buy it, do so. It could save your parents the heartbreak of getting letters demanding loan payments very shortly after your death if God forbid something did happen to you. Take out extra over your loan amount if you can, and see about getting your wife some too - even if you dont have dependents, if one of you did pass, having the extra money would allow the surviving spouse the time to grieve and heal without having to worry about their finances for a bit. 