Who is Responsible to Pay Off Debts After Death, if Spouse Not on Same Account

[sally2012]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California
If a person dies and he has some outstanding credit card debt or other debts, who is responsible to pay that off, provided there is nobody else on his account. Even the spouse holds a seperate account & there is no property too. Or does it depend on the type of debts
If noody is responsible then any old person can accumalate money & pass it to dear once before he/she dies

Thanks

[flyingron]

Other PEOPLE not signed on as being responsbile for the debt can not be held to pay BUT the estate of the deceased *IS*. This means the creditors get to make claims on the dead persons accumulated money to pay off what they are owed.

[aaron]

California is a community property state, so there's potential for the debt to be collected against the community property if the debtor's separate property is insufficient to satisfy the debt. As I'm not from California, I'll leave the details of that state's community property laws, and how they play into credit card debt, to others.