Q: My father and his wife both recently died in North Carolina with no original will, and lots of debt. What happens next?
They were renters and the rental company is calling us to pay the rent and remove their things. My brother and I live out of state and don't want to get involved because my stepmom had HUGE debt and they don't really have anything of value to offset the debt. What happens now? Will the property management company sell their things? Who organizes all the creditors that will soon be calling? What about their cars? My dad hand-made beautiful models-can we petition someone to have 1-2 of them? They are not worth anything, but have sentimental value.
A:
If you do not pick up the personal property, then the management company will probably have everything be declared abandoned and dispose of it how they see fit.
Without knowing how all the debts were listed, I can't tell you if you would be able to get some of the models, but unless you co-signed on the debts, none the debts can transfer to you or your brother.
The process is that an estate is opened up, and the administrator of the estate will inform all creditors and then sell all of the assets and pay off the creditors in an order determined by statute.
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