Send them a death certificate. Can't collect a consumer charge account on a dead person, not can they come after the executor once the estate is settled.

I would not bother with sending them a death certificate.
I'd just write them and tell them the estate had been settled long ago, and that they were too late.

I think sending them a death certificate might be sending them too much personal info. Identities of deceased have been stolen.

Sue

Agree - DO NOT send a death certificate since it carries a SS number.

A terse, two sentence note from you would be as far as I'd go. To the effect of... "_________ is deceased as of (date) and the estate has been settled. There will be no response to any further communication from you regarding this matter."

Why do you need to respond at all? It's not YOUR debt. You didn't charge anything on that card.

The person with the debt is dead. If you aren't the spouse you have zero liability, and no obligation to tell them anything.

So don't. Tell them nothing at all. Trash (or keep if you wish) any bills. If you respond in any way at all, they then have the ability (not the right) to pursue you.

I should have noted - if the deceased had no will, then you cannot be the executor. No one can hold you liable for any debts.

You said "It was addressed to the deceists name and the word executor afterwards."

They know he died. They are trying to get paid from his estate. If you are not the executor or the person who collected on life insurance, tell them who is/did.

You also say "The card was hardly used and paid in full for a purchase which was small." Either Cabelas made up $1500 in debt (which I doubt) or someone charged on it.

Ask them the date of the last charge. If it is after his death date, even by one day, or when he was sick in the hospital and wouldnt be shopping for outdoor gear, there is big trouble for who ever went shopping.

It could be someone looking for identy theft. Do not respond. You could contact Cabelas directly and let them check it out. Please give them no information.

Ignore it. credit cards are very low in the order of payment when there's no estate.

bump

OK, you bumped it.

What, if anything, has transpired since you first posted this last month?

ignore it. when my grandmother passed away she left no will and tons of debt. her only asset was her home, and she owed more on it than it was worth. we asked the family lawyer what to do and he said to send the hospitals a death cert, and tell everyone else she had died intestate.

certainly after 6 years there is no legal recourse for them. heck, i bet the debt has been sold to a junk debt buyer and they are jsut trying to keep the DOLA current to reset the statute of limitations. any response at all could possibly trigger a SOL reset and thus they will really start bugging you then. once they figure out the person is deceased they will simply sell teh debt to another JDB and the process starts all over.

so ignore it.

If it was addressed to say, "Joe Smith, executor"--doesn't that mean that HE was the executor for someone else's estate? When doing business for my mother's estate, I always signed MY name, with 'executrix' after it. Maybe this is someone else's bill? and he was managing their estate before he died?

You really didn't explain the relationship. I don't see why you'd even question your responsibility in this case. If he died intestate, there was no executor/trix, so you personally (with the possible exception if you were married) shouldn't have any legal responsibility here.

i never heard from the collection again. when i received the initial letter i decided not to respond.

when in doubt do nothing. my new motto.