How do I close my deceased Mom's credit card accounts?

No Jessie, you won't be responsible for parents' credit card debt. Filial Responsibility laws are for the care and support of your parents. Only Medicaid and Nursing Homes invoke that law.

This made me wonder -- in filial responsibility states, could the children be held responsible for the debts of their parents to credit card companies?

My father only had one credit card when he died. I called Chase and they closed his account to charges right away and handled things for me, so that I didn't even have to think of what to do. Chase sent out the final bill rather quickly and we paid it, so there was no claim on the estate. If there is substantial debt that no one is going to be responsible for, a credit card company will put a claim as a creditor on the estate. If there are assets that are to go through probate, then creditors have first claim to the money. If there is no money, the companies may try to collect, but legally it is their loss.

My condolences on the death of your mom.

I was faced with this same issue after my dad died. He too died with substantial unpaid debts. He had been in a nursing home and his mail was coming to my house so I called his creditors to report that he had died. The creditors all have his birthdate so it was obvious to them that my dad wasn't hiding out from them, trying to get out of paying. Some asked for a death certificate, some didn't.

By the time my dad had died I was practically ready for a nursing home myself just from stress so the last thing I wanted to do was to call of these people and deal with that stuff but I had called some of them previously to report that my dad was in a nursing home. I was trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, my personal phone number got attached to his accounts and I was bombarded with calls for weeks and weeks. It was a nightmare.

Get your mom's mail stopped and mail a death certificate to each creditor. Some companies have estate departments that deal just with this kind of thing. Don't give away any of your information and remember that POA stops after death (if a creditor tries to tell you that you may be on the hook for the debt because you were POA it's not true).

It took a little time for the calls and my dad's mail to stop but little by little it stopped.

oops forgot to mention most companies return the death certificate after they record info.

We called first and then sent a letter with an original copy of the death certificate. I tell everyone to get at least 20 copies of the DC from the funeral home. Usually you get 5 or 10 included but that is never enough.

Mother didn't have any real debt just little things on a couple of cards she used to keep credit current.

Sorry for your loss. It is just tough business losing our Moms. Best wishes.