If my husband dies before me is it true

[Anonymous]

Life insurance is not part of the estate.

[Anonymous]

there is a good discussion of this in this thread too

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/143396.page#1268199

[Anonymous]

talk to an estate planning attorney bottom line is claims against the estate will have to be settled, no one will care where the money comes from. Sounds like you are worried you will have to pay his bills with his life insurance money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:talk to an estate planning attorney bottom line is claims against the estate will have to be settled, no one will care where the money comes from. Sounds like you are worried you will have to pay his bills with his life insurance money.

if claims against the estate exceed the value of the estate there's no reason to think that a surviving family member have to make up any difference

[Anonymous]

So if you co-own a house, could you be forced to sell it so his half of the value goes into the estate (and gets sent to the holder of the student loan)?

[Anonymous]

again, consult a professional, it is likely free.

[Anonymous]

life insurance passes directly to the beneficiary bypassing the estate. If the estate is insolvent then your attorney should draft a letter to send to the creditors telling them. On the house it depends I would think - do you own it outright? or you have a mtg pymt and some sort of equity in the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: On the house it depends I would think - do you own it outright? or you have a mtg pymt and some sort of equity in the house?

Mortgage payment with equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: On the house it depends I would think - do you own it outright? or you have a mtg pymt and some sort of equity in the house?

Mortgage payment with equity.

But I'm not the OP, by the way--just curious how this works.

[Anonymous]

I think they could file a lien against your home

[Anonymous]

No to the house. That's the advantage married couples have because the house is titled differently -- tenants by the entirety. They can't be forced to sell to settle the debt of the other spouse. Not so for those who merely co-own -- joint tenants in common. Then a creditor can put a lien against one owner's share of the house.

Another argument for gay marriage.

[Anonymous]

I thought tenants by entirety mean sole ownership and joint tenancy mean you co-own it.

Also, at some point the lender finds out your husband is dead you will be forced to refinance and qualify for the loan on your own merits. If you don't then only option is to sell. Not sure how that works into paying husbands debts.

not an expert here but have gone through this many many times with friends and relatives but never encountered the insolvency issue and unpaid debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, at some point the lender finds out your husband is dead you will be forced to refinance and qualify for the loan on your own merits. If you don't then only option is to sell.

Really?? I've never heard this--kind of scary.

[Anonymous]

I would think this could happen eventually, maybe routine credit check. I know people that live in deceased parents homes that just keep up the payments and no one has said anything yet however they are scared to death about it.

[Anonymous]

My father just died a couple of years ago and my parents had their mortgage and car payment with the same bank. The bank didn't say a thing about the mortgage, but threatened to repossess the car within 30 days of my dad's death because my mother's name wasn't on the lien. Even though they'd never ever been late on a payment. On anything with that bank for over 50 years. But the house? No issue with that, oddly.