<prompt> Human: HelloMy brother-in-law recently passed unexpectedly and I have been trying to assist my sister with the handling of their finances. From what she has told me there are 3 credit cards in my BILs name with outstanding debts. One was acquired before they were married and 2 were acquired post marriage, all are solely in my BILs name. She has said that one company contacted her saying that they are aware he has passed and have frozen the account and interest on said account but are requiring the balance to be paid in full, this is one of the cards he acquired after their marriage. Is my sister required to pay back these balances even though her name isnt on any of the accounts? Anyone with knowledge or experience in this type of situation would be greatly appreciated. My sister and BIL have residencylive in South Dakota if that information helps. Let me know if any other information is needed to figure out the repayment requirements and Ill get it from my sister.Thank you and tell your loved ones what they mean to you every opportunity you have. Edit: My sister did speak to a family friend who does taxes and is somewhat familiar with these types of circumstances. He made it sound like the estate would be responsible for the debts, meaning my sister since she is the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. Assistant: Sorry for the loss in your family.If your sister never signed a contract agreeing to be personally liable for her husbands credit card, then she does not personally legally owe them anything. When you hear people talk about assets or debts acquired during the marriage versus before the marriage, that mostly only affects how assetsdebts are divided in the event of divorce. She doesnt become personally liable for debts he took out individually just because they were married.If he had other assets when he passed which he left to her - financial accounts, property, life insurance policy etc - then his creditors may possibly need to be paid before she can inherit any of those assets. If his personal debts are greater than the value of any assets he was leaving to her, then she may not get to inherit any of those assets, but his creditors cant make her pay the difference.If they had assets that they owned jointly, like joint bank accounts, then you may want to check whether his creditors can or cant make any claim to part of those joint assets.Human: Thank you for your condolences.He did have a life insurance policy to be paid to my sister so will she just pay back the debts after receiving that? All student loans were federally consolidated so from what we are aware of they will be forgiven and she will bot be liable to repay any of those.  <response>: your sister does not have to pay a cent. Anyone with a valid claim against your brother needs to file that claim against his estate. They cant make a claim against an uninvolved third party. 