By Betsy Simmons Hannibal , Attorney
Updated by Jeff Burtka , Attorney George Mason University Law School
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If you live owing money, chances are you will die owing money. If you do, your executor will be responsible for rounding up your property and making sure all your outstanding debts are satisfied before any of the property is put in the hands of those you have named to get it. In your will, you can leave instructions about how to take care of these obligations.
When you die, your estate may be liable for a variety of debts, expenses, and taxes.
When you leave this credit-happy world, you will likely go out with debts you have not fully paid—personal loans, credit card bills, mortgage loans or income taxes. Here are the two types of debts you need to be concerned about when making a will.
There are several expenses incurred after you die—including the costs of a funeral, burial or cremation and probate—which may take your survivors by surprise if you do not plan ahead for paying them. Funeral and burial expenses, for example, typically cost several thousand dollars. And for those who do not plan ahead, the costs may soar even higher. In addition, probate and estate administration fees typically run about 5% to 7% of the value of the property you leave to others in your will.
You can make your own will, quickly and easily, using Nolo's Quicken WillMaker.
Most people do not have to worry about estate or inheritance taxes, either because their estates are not large enough to owe federal or state estate tax, or because their state does not have an estate or inheritance tax. To learn about these taxes, and to find out whether your estate could be liable for either federal estate tax, state estate tax, or state inheritance tax when you die, go to the Estate, Gift, and Inheritance Taxes section on Nolo.com.
Unless you specify otherwise in your will, in most states, these taxes will normally be paid proportionately out of the estate's liquid assets. This means that a beneficiary's property will be reduced by the percentage that the property bears to the total liquid assets. Liquid assets include bank accounts, money market accounts and marketable securities. Real estate and tangible personal property, such as cars, furniture and antiques are not included. This could cause a problem if, for example, you left your bank account with $50,000 in it to a favorite nephew and your tax liability—most of which resulted from valuable real property left to another beneficiary—gobbled up all or most of it.
Typically, you do not need to leave instructions about debts if any of the following are true:
On the other hand, you may need to be concerned about covering your debts and taxes when your will-making plan involves dividing up your property among a number of beneficiaries. And you need to plan more carefully if debts payable by your estate are likely to be large enough to cut significantly into bequests left to individuals and charitable institutions. The danger, of course, is that unless you plan carefully, the people whose bequests are used to pay debts and expenses may be the very people whom you would have preferred to take your property free and clear.
If you do not leave instructions about how to pay your obligations, your executor will pay them as required by the laws of your state. Some states leave it up to your executor to make good decisions about how to pay your debts and expenses. Other states require that debts and expenses be paid first out of property in your estate that does not pass under your will. In other states, your debts and expenses must first be paid out of liquid assets, such as bank accounts and securities, then from tangible personal property and, as a last resort, from real estate.
If you decide to leave instructions in your will, you must choose which assets you executor should use to pay your obligations. It's best to designate liquid assets over tangible assets that would have to be sold, and using insurance is also an option.
Of course, if the source you specify is insufficient to pay all the bills, your executor will still face the problem of which property to use to make up the difference. For this reason, it is often wise to list several resources and specify the order in which they should be used. Also, make sure that they are worth more than what is likely to be required.
If people owe you money when you die, your executor might be able to collect those payments on behalf of your estate. But you also can leave instructions in your will to forgive those debts after you die.
Forgiving a debt functions much the same as a gift; those who were indebted to you will no longer be legally required to pay the money they owed. Keep in mind, however, that releasing people or institutions from the debts they owe you may diminish the property that your beneficiaries receive under your will.
There are two main limitations to forgiving debts in your will:
When you make your will, carefully describe any debt you wish to cancel—including the name of the person who owes it, the approximate date the debt was incurred, and the amount you wish to forgive. This information is important so that the debt can be properly identified.
Don' use your will to explain why you are forgiving the debt. Instead, explain your reasoning in a separate letter that you keep with your will. Learn more about Writing an Explanatory Letter for your will.
You can learn more about Wills, and much more on the Wills, Trusts & Probate sections of Nolo.com.