October 29th, 2022 in
What if someone dies who owes me money? If someone dies and they owe you money, you are a creditor of their estate. If the funds are not secured by real property, such a a mortgage, you have a limited amount of time to take action or you are barred by law from collecting your debt from the decedent’s estate.
Under California law, a creditor has one year to bring a file a claim in court against the estate or he/she is forever barred by law from enforcing that debt. Even if a probate is never opened for the decedent, the one year statute of limitation applies.
A creditor can open a probate to file a claim to preserve the creditor’s right to sue for the debt. If a creditor fails to file a claim in the probate court within one year of the date of death, the creditor is barred by law from collecting its debt. The statute of limitation applies even if the creditor is not informed the person passed away.
