Legal Question in Business Law in California

Facts: Business credit card in the name of a deceased individual. What happens to its debt? The business credit card has authorized cardholders (employees/agents), who used the account to pay for authorized business expenses (without and also with knowledge of the business owner's death) because of pre-existing commitments, there are also charges that were set up as auto-pay. Would all debt (those incurred before, and after the business owner's death) get discharged or just those before?


Asked on 3/20/17, 11:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

How about the possibility that nothing gets discharged? I can't make a full analysis without reading the credit card agreement and perhaps knowing whether the business was a sole proprietorship or an entity like a corporation or LLC, but in general the death of a cardholder doesn't discharge liability for card indebtedness. The debt becomes a debt of the estate. We need more facts, but in general there's no free ride. Credit card issuers are too smart for that.

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Answered on 3/21/17, 12:15 pm


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