Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

I am sorry for your loss.

Unless you signed something, you are not personally responsible. Your mother's estate is responsible for your mother's funeral bill. What assets did your mother personally own, such as checking accounts, etc.?

You might want to check and see if your mother had a will. If she did, was there a requirement that your stepfather survive your mother? If so, what was the time period? Some wills have as survivorship requirement of 3 days, others 3 months so it does make a difference in knowing what assets passed to your stepfather. Follow the money - that may provide you with a clue as to who is responsible.

Regardless of whether your mother had a will, an estate needs to be opened for your mother if she had assets. You cannot keep the assets and NOT pay the bills. Even if there are some assets but not enough to pay the bills, then you have to pay in order of priority. In such case, see a lawyer. Funeral expenses get priority, but not in the full amount. You can only pay the funeral bill up to the amount specified by law.

If your mother had no assets, did she have any funeral policies? I suppose that if your mother really had no funeral policies and no assets at all that would justify probate, you can always write a letter to the funeral home explaining the circumstances and saying that there are no assets to justify probate and that an estate will not be opened.

While you are not obligated to use any life insurance policies for this purpose if your mother made you the beneficiary, your mother may have expected you to use the money to at least pay for her burial. If it were me, common decency would suggest that you and any of your siblings ought to cough up the money to chip in for your mother's burial. That all said, I would try to get the funeral home to lower the costs if you truly are not responsible and there are no assets.

The only other option I can see is that if your step-father had assets and signed something at the funeral home indicating that he was responsible, then in that case the funeral home could always file a claim against your step-father's estate. I would only recommend this if he signed something and has assets. Otherwise, his estate would not be responsible for your mother's burial.