<prompt> Human: My dad passed away after fighting cancer for several years, he lost his job about 2-3 years ago and had since been on unemployment or lately disability. He left behind my mom, my siblings 16 in school and 21 in college and myself and my older sister who are 24 and 25. Im financially independent now, making enough to pay bills and save any extra. My older sister refuses to help financially.My dads cancer had left him in a horrible state physically and mentally and it was difficult if not impossible to manage for my mom who took care of him. Their financial situation got worse when my mom lost her normal job taking on part time work. He opened up credit cards under himself, but also my mom sometimes without her knowing so that he could pay expenses or buy things he thought were necessary. He handled all of their finances, and was very controlling of everything so my mom knew little about what was going on and while he did work he made most of the familys income. He was horrible with money, and they had used up all of their savings and drained their 401k where my mom now owes back taxes Im sure as she cashed out about 25k.I have now taken on the priority of helping my mom through this, and getting her on her feet. She has an hourly job making roughly 30k a year with no benefits so while shes working during all of this Ive taken the time off Im fortunate to get to figure this all out. She has a basic understanding of which credit cards and accounts she has and Ive mostly tried to collect as much info from her through pulling her credit report and seeing what is on it:Mortgage: Our main house at best might have about 40-50k of equity. Its been on the market for months and she cannot afford the monthly mortgage payment.The other was an investment property they had bought, which is mortgaged only under my mom and not my dad. The house is smaller and significantly less so my mom is planning to move there with my siblings.Credit card debt under my moms name: 14,000This was very difficult to figure out, most of it was research through her credit report to figure out what was actually hers and not my dads who had several thousand more. Spread across 10 credit cards with 2-3 listing my dad as an authorized user verified on his report.Personal loan: 18,000 According to her credit report this was charged off and sold off, she got a notice from a new lender with a settlement payment of 15,000 as she has been past due since last fall.Car loans: Theyre all joint accounts with my dad. They have three cars, but for one of them I sold my car and took over the payments on it...21,000 financed car no equity -5k equity 490mo12,500 financed car 390moStudent Loan: My one sibling in college had to take out a plus loan, and my mom currently has deferred loan obligations until 2020.On top of all of this, she has a civil judgment for 1,300 for a medical bill and 200 in collections from other medical expenses. My dad had been in and out of the hospital for about a year, with multiple surgeries but insured under Obamacare. Im sure there are an immense amount of medical bills and I dont know if theyll fall on my mom or not. I didnt know things were this bad and Im trying to get her back on her feet by selling the main house, moving her and my siblings to the smaller more affordable home and leaving her with just one car and helping her find a better job where theyll be moving. Im looking for advice on how to handle all of this because Im losing my mind after losing my dad. He personally had another 27k in credit card and personal loan debt on his credit report, and as far as I know my mom was not on those accounts. I dont think lenders can go after my mom for that debt, but what about their joint assets cars, house? Im hoping to get some direction on this. He had no will, and no life insurance. UPDATE: We are meeting with an estatetax lawyer who mentioned that bankruptcy is likely avoidable given that my dads unsecured debt will not fall on my mom as long as she isnt connected to it. The house he claims is now my moms only after her death and she needs only to pay off the mortgage from the sale keeping all equity to pay for her debts. The two vehicles will have to be figured out with my dad on the loan as to how to get him off. I will refinance or pay off the car I took over, since there is little left on the loan and then it would take my dad off of it. Thank you for all the advice so far, hopefully after meeting with the lawyer we can sort out her obligations and a plan to settle her debts and move out of her current house. This has given me more assurance that there is a final outcome here which can and will be achieved for my family to put them back on their feet.  <response>: The 16 yo should be able to get social security survivors benefits. Move mom and 16 yo into the smaller house, look into bankruptcy. 