Q: If your roommate dies in the middle of your lease, does his or her estate still obligated to fill the lease?
A: Although I have never heard of doing anything like you are thinking about trying, I suppose you could wait until the decedent's family opens a probate case (if they do) and then file a claim against the probate estate for the remaining portion of rent the decedent cannot pay. However, you are required to mitigate your loss by trying to re-let to another tenant. If you cannot do that--and if I was the probate estate's lawyer--I would deny your claim based upon a theory that your financial loss is not recoverable because it was caused by an act of God.
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