Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Write a letter to the creditors. Send it certified mail. Give them a copy of the death certificate, explain you are a child and that there are no assets in the estate to justify probate. Ask them to close the account and cease collection efforts.

This will only work if your mother has no assets or no appreciable assets (pots and pans, or clothes). If your mother has assets (vehicles, land), then you need to go through probate. You can't keep her stuff and not pay the creditors. Consequences are that the creditors will find out and come after you. Probate expenses are paid by the estate and come off the top, so you will be reimbursed. There is a set order of priority to pay claims against the estate where there is not enough assets. My advice would be to get a probate attorney in the county/state where your mother resided at the time of her death.