“Dead people are the newest frontier in debt collecting,” according to the New York Times.
Creditors can always file a claim against an estate. But when there’s no estate to ding in probate court, collection agencies and law firms that specialize in asking family members for the money start calling.
Although laws vary from state to state, family members are not usually required to pay the bills left by Aunt Alice, or even a parent, out of the their own pocket.
Yet collectors say many will do so out of a sense of honor or obligation — or just because they don’t know any better and think they have to.
Scott Weltman of Weltman, Weinberg & Reis, a Cleveland law firm, told the Times that if family members ask, “we definitely tell them” they have no legal obligation to pay. “But is it disclosed upfront? – ‘Mr. Smith, you definitely don’t owe the money.’ It’s not that blunt.”
I’ll bet it isn’t.
One collection agency that specializes in dead debt said it works for banks, automotive finance companies, retailers, phone companies and hospitals. It won’t disclose their names, however, because the companies “want to protect their brand.”
I’ll bet they do.
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