[MSGB]

Father passes away and I have been appointed Adminstratrix of his estate. He had a store credit card and my sister was an authorized user. I received a letter from collection attorneys for the credit card company stating that they are making a claim against the Estate for an unpaid balance. I requested proof and was sent months and months of transactions totaling approx. $20K. Most, but not all of the transactions took place after father's passing. I offered the collection attorney the amount due on the date of father's death. Collection attorney then returned debt to original creditor.

My question is: is the Estate responsible for the entire debt? Jurisdication is in Pennsylvania.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If your sister was making charges to your father's account after his death, she should be paying the bill (or perhaps you can try to get the court to authorize the payment of the balance from her share of the estate).

[MSGB]

Thanks for your response. I agree that sister should pay the bill andbe responsible for it. Father's Will does not leave anything to sister. He designed his grandchildren as beneficiaries of his Estate. So I still need to know if the Estate is responsible for the credit card debt. I understand from speaking to the bank who issued the card that they are currently investigating it as a fraud but they have not indicated that they are backing down from their claim against the Estate. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If the estate is sued for the debt, it can bring a claim against the sister to pay back the money she spent.