The Deceased

• Generally, when someone passes away their estate goes through probate and the executor pays off any remaining debts from the deceased's assets. There are several exceptions to this rule including debts incurred through joint credit accounts and credit card accounts in community property states.
  
  

Community Property States

• Community property states treat spousal property different than common law states. In terms of credit card debt, if you are in a community property state, you will be personally responsible for your spouse's credit card debt after they pass away. The states that follow the community property rule are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Community property laws are different in each of these states so you will need to see how they may apply to you.
  
  

Joint Accounts

• If the deceased person has a joint account with his spouse or someone else, the other party will be responsible for any remaining debt following the death of the joint account holder. However, if you are in a non-community property state, and the credit card account is only in the deceased's name, in most instances the credit card company will only have a very limited time to collect from the estate of the deceased and after that they will not have any legal recourse for securing the debt.
  
  

Laws

• The main federal law governing credit debt and credit card collections is the Fair Debt Practices Act of 1978. The act establishes how a creditor to collect debts, what practices by collection agencies are illegal, restrictions on contact and guidelines for wage garnishment practices. Most states have their own credit card collection laws as well.