As someone who’s dealing with the estate process right now, I don’t think anyone inherits debt. It’s paid out of the estate and nobody else is responsible for those debts.
That is arguing semantics. When people inherit things it is their understanding that it is theirs. If my grandma left me the house but owed 1 million in unpaid debt, you effectively inherit the debt. Regardless of the fact that you could opt out of inheriting it.
People often go into personal debt to retain inheritance.
On a separate note inheritance/estate tax is robbery by the federal government.
That is incorrect. If your grandmother left you the house, as in she put your name on the deed as transfer on death, it is not part of the estate and you would get it outright. It would not be affected by the debt.
If you’re saying there’s a million dollars remaining on the mortgage on the property, of course she can’t just give it to you, it’s still collateral for that mortgage. It’s not hers to give.
If it was paid off, but part of the estate and subject to the rules of inheritance, then it would be affected by other non-mortgage debt.
US Federal estate tax does not count until it’s above $13.99 million per individual. In this example, unless it is a huge property, it would not be subject to inheritance tax.
I think I cut off of $13.99 million is more than adequate and only taxes those who can afford it.
I’m in the process of directly inheriting something like 200k in various savings and retirement accounts along with a half million dollar life insurance payout, and there are zero taxes on any of that.
I’m also taking over the deed on a house with $300k mortgage remaining - of course I have to keep paying that mortgage. That’s not inheriting debt. I could turn around and sell the property immediately and get paid the difference between the remaining mortgage balance and sale price.
That’s literally what I just said. Debts are paid out of the estate. The estate assets will always be used to pay off remaining debts before the inheritors get anything.
I’m not sure the whole “debts aren’t inherited” part applies everywhere.
Certainly does in my country. Although like in the rare instance there was something you absolutely wanted to inherit, but there was also a mountain of debt, you couldn’t decide to inherit without also taking on the debt. Even if that inherited thing was literally worthless and would not yield anything when sold.
Although such an object would probably be able to gifted, but like technically, that’s how it’d go.
But here’s the bit that actually made me write my comment:
Idk how it works where that guy lives, but it’s clip from an American standup, talking about inherited debt. Might just be made up, obviously, but according to this article more than half the states still have “filial responsibility” laws.
These laws are holdovers from a time when debtors prisons existed, says McDowell, and are rarely enforced. Their use has faded since the 1965 creation of Medicare — the health coverage program for people 65 and over — and Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor.
I don’t see how that explains the story in the clip?
I don’t think the article covers all the state-level filial responsibility laws. There’s a ton of state level legislation after all.
Or it might be that the debt the guy is talking about in the clip isn’t legally enforceable, but it sounds like debt to the state, which is why he seemed to inherit it in the first place, it wasn’t just like a regular credit line.
Yeah, no that whole clip is just a joke. That’s not at all how it works. You don’t inherit debt unless you cosigned a loan or it’s spousal debt in one of those common property states.
When someone dies, you tally it all up, debtors get paid out of the estate in a certain order of precedence, if the money runs out, the money runs out. If there’s money over, it gets divvied up according to inheritance laws of that state.
Also, importantly, debtors cannot touch things like life insurance payouts or retirement accounts that have beneficiaries named. Those are not part of the estate and they can’t touch them.
My point was that if you have too much debt your inheritors aren’t going to get anything when you die so just saying that debt doesn’t get passed on like it’s nothing is kind of disingenuous. I guess if you don’t care about leaving anything to your family you don’t need to worry about it but personally I want mine to get as much as possible.
I don’t disagree. Do people not realize that you can’t inherit the assets of someone who has a negative net worth? That seems pretty common sense to me, and I knew that before I ever dealt with an estate.
You still gotta pay your bills even if you’re dead, or rather the executor has to pay your bills for you.
Not really, but there’s not much being left for the children of boomers to inherit.
edit: And in the broader sense, yes. Millennial and younger are inheriting the debt from Bush II’s wars. We didn’t have any vote on that matter, but we’re the ones who are paying that off. 2.8 trillion. After the shitshow of a covid response, I never want to hear someone mention the 3000 dead.
I hear the opposite, boomer’s kids stand to inherit quite a bit. Anecdotally this seems true; granted I am an only child.
My father is likely to leave me with a few hundred thousand of his retirement account (he doesn’t know what to spend it on, his union pension is more than enough for his needs) and I’ll inherit both his house as well as my grandmothers house, which is now my uncle’s house. My mom’s house will be sold and split between my half brother and my cousin who my mother raised.
They can come knocking all they want, but you are not legally required as an heir to pay that debt. Surely there are a few exceptions like mortgage payments (if u wanna keep the house), but personal debts like credit cards? Not your problem.
I don’t believe so. I was explicitly told by my lawyer not to pay any estate debts with my own money.
I believe there are a few niche scenarios where somebody else can be responsible for the debt (eg joint account, co-signed loan), but in general, you should never pay somebody else’s estate debts.
If you were any smarter you wpuld inherit the house from your grandma and flip it yourself for big gains
Surprise surprise, you only inherit a bunch of debt because that generation loved by “you can’t take it with you”.
As someone who’s dealing with the estate process right now, I don’t think anyone inherits debt. It’s paid out of the estate and nobody else is responsible for those debts.
That is arguing semantics. When people inherit things it is their understanding that it is theirs. If my grandma left me the house but owed 1 million in unpaid debt, you effectively inherit the debt. Regardless of the fact that you could opt out of inheriting it.
People often go into personal debt to retain inheritance.
On a separate note inheritance/estate tax is robbery by the federal government.
All taxation is theft.
Inheritance/estate tax is one of the more ethical ones, though.
That is incorrect. If your grandmother left you the house, as in she put your name on the deed as transfer on death, it is not part of the estate and you would get it outright. It would not be affected by the debt.
If you’re saying there’s a million dollars remaining on the mortgage on the property, of course she can’t just give it to you, it’s still collateral for that mortgage. It’s not hers to give.
If it was paid off, but part of the estate and subject to the rules of inheritance, then it would be affected by other non-mortgage debt.
US Federal estate tax does not count until it’s above $13.99 million per individual. In this example, unless it is a huge property, it would not be subject to inheritance tax.
I think I cut off of $13.99 million is more than adequate and only taxes those who can afford it.
I’m in the process of directly inheriting something like 200k in various savings and retirement accounts along with a half million dollar life insurance payout, and there are zero taxes on any of that.
I’m also taking over the deed on a house with $300k mortgage remaining - of course I have to keep paying that mortgage. That’s not inheriting debt. I could turn around and sell the property immediately and get paid the difference between the remaining mortgage balance and sale price.
but if theres enough debt the other assets go towards that rather than the inheritors.
Smart and rich people get around inheritance taxes by systematically giving wealth to their families over time while they are still living.
That’s literally what I just said. Debts are paid out of the estate. The estate assets will always be used to pay off remaining debts before the inheritors get anything.
I’m not sure the whole “debts aren’t inherited” part applies everywhere.
Certainly does in my country. Although like in the rare instance there was something you absolutely wanted to inherit, but there was also a mountain of debt, you couldn’t decide to inherit without also taking on the debt. Even if that inherited thing was literally worthless and would not yield anything when sold.
Although such an object would probably be able to gifted, but like technically, that’s how it’d go.
But here’s the bit that actually made me write my comment:
https://youtube.com/shorts/_pkNndF6O_M
Idk how it works where that guy lives, but it’s clip from an American standup, talking about inherited debt. Might just be made up, obviously, but according to this article more than half the states still have “filial responsibility” laws.
I suppose it’s possible but like the article says it’s not enforced.
I don’t see how that explains the story in the clip?
I don’t think the article covers all the state-level filial responsibility laws. There’s a ton of state level legislation after all.
Or it might be that the debt the guy is talking about in the clip isn’t legally enforceable, but it sounds like debt to the state, which is why he seemed to inherit it in the first place, it wasn’t just like a regular credit line.
Yeah, no that whole clip is just a joke. That’s not at all how it works. You don’t inherit debt unless you cosigned a loan or it’s spousal debt in one of those common property states.
When someone dies, you tally it all up, debtors get paid out of the estate in a certain order of precedence, if the money runs out, the money runs out. If there’s money over, it gets divvied up according to inheritance laws of that state.
Also, importantly, debtors cannot touch things like life insurance payouts or retirement accounts that have beneficiaries named. Those are not part of the estate and they can’t touch them.
My point was that if you have too much debt your inheritors aren’t going to get anything when you die so just saying that debt doesn’t get passed on like it’s nothing is kind of disingenuous. I guess if you don’t care about leaving anything to your family you don’t need to worry about it but personally I want mine to get as much as possible.
It’s not disingenuous in the slightest. Debt does not get passed on, full stop. You cannot inherit debt except for a few niche scenarios.
Debts and assets are separate things.
You can inherit nothing because all the assets went to cover the debt though. That’s my point.
I don’t disagree. Do people not realize that you can’t inherit the assets of someone who has a negative net worth? That seems pretty common sense to me, and I knew that before I ever dealt with an estate.
You still gotta pay your bills even if you’re dead, or rather the executor has to pay your bills for you.
Not really, but there’s not much being left for the children of boomers to inherit.
edit: And in the broader sense, yes. Millennial and younger are inheriting the debt from Bush II’s wars. We didn’t have any vote on that matter, but we’re the ones who are paying that off. 2.8 trillion. After the shitshow of a covid response, I never want to hear someone mention the 3000 dead.
Child of a boomer here and honestly, the socioeconomic strata i grew up in? I never expected anything
I hear the opposite, boomer’s kids stand to inherit quite a bit. Anecdotally this seems true; granted I am an only child.
My father is likely to leave me with a few hundred thousand of his retirement account (he doesn’t know what to spend it on, his union pension is more than enough for his needs) and I’ll inherit both his house as well as my grandmothers house, which is now my uncle’s house. My mom’s house will be sold and split between my half brother and my cousin who my mother raised.
It’s actually expensive, and the property is taxed as usual. If you don’t monetise the area you’re going to lose. It depends.
What’s expensive, and what area are you referring to?
I was under the impression that was not the case. If the estate has no money to pay out, the collectors are gonna come knocking, no?
They can come knocking all they want, but you are not legally required as an heir to pay that debt. Surely there are a few exceptions like mortgage payments (if u wanna keep the house), but personal debts like credit cards? Not your problem.
I don’t believe so. I was explicitly told by my lawyer not to pay any estate debts with my own money.
I believe there are a few niche scenarios where somebody else can be responsible for the debt (eg joint account, co-signed loan), but in general, you should never pay somebody else’s estate debts.