If your parent has bills or debts when they die, who pays them?

They are paid out of the estate. If there is no money in the estate, debts cannot be collected. Children are not responsible for the parents' debts. (A spouse will still be responsible, however.)

This why each person should have their own credit cards so if the one that dies first and has a problem with overspending will not leave his or her bills for the frugal one to suffer in paying them off.

Normally, residual bills are paid out of the deceased estate. HOWEVER, No one, and I do mean NO ONE is responsible for another person's debts, billls obligations etc. Exceptions: If more than one name appears on the "account"...such as a spouse or child.
I'll check out "Filial Law" with the great one (my lawyer), and find out what it's all about.
Warning: Be careful of "co-colateralization" with a creditor. They can collect. Example: If a creditor, such as a bank or credit union holds multiple loans on the deceased such as a car loan, mortgage, personal loan, along with a checking account or an IRA, they can pull from whatever they "own" in order to cover the outstanding debt of the deceased. Horror stories abound in estate law.
It makes sense to "cash out" before one dies, doesn't it? .

Check out something called the Filial Law. It states that in 29 out 50 states children can be held responsible for their parents debts. I was shocked to read this. Just an interesting note. Good luck, however, collecting on this and there is a great deal of controversy about it. Could be a good converstion starter!

Creditors will always send letters, threatening telephone calls, perhaps a door knock or two. Ignore them. If your name is not on any of her credit card bills, then pay no heed.
Q.: If she's been in a Nursing Home/Assisted Living Facility for five years and will probably not return home, then why does she need a Life Estate on the house?
If she is the legal owner of the house, if her name is on the current deed, then yes, creditors can put a judgement on the house....... Let the lawyer answer the judgement.

KZ - A lot of this will depend on your mom's state law on property rights and how it views "homestead" and how the actual deed to the home is recorded. Also each state sets different limitations on unsecured (e.g. credit card) debt.

You are probably going to need a real estate attorney to unsnarl all this but there are some things you need to get before hand to do this......

Was there really truly a judgement done?
Often the debt collectors send out letters stating "there is a judgement" without that actually being the case. So what's what needs to be determined. Now if there is an actual judgement, then mom should have been served to appear in court to state her "case" before that happened. Did she get served? There should be a filing by the local deputy who served it and to whom got it and signed off. You will need to get a copy of this if you want to fight this.

Is there really & truly a lien on the property?
The judgement would also need to be recorded in the county assessors office or whatever system is in place in her state in order for a lein to be done. You can go down to the tax assessors office or hopefully, go on line to get whatever is listed against the property. This is done all the time for real estate sales and should be cheap to run - usually under $ 10. If there is a lien against your mom and you legally own the house and she does not own it (all done before the judgement), then you can have the lien removed. You really need an attorney to do this.

But get all your paperwork - act of sale, all notarized paperwork, wills, mortgage items, deed of trust, release of deed of trust, etc, together before you see the attorney. Also do a timeline on the property ownership.

Most states have it where judgements have to be renewed and that costs (the collection agency to do) and often it isn't done when it expires.

If your names are kinda similar, this sort of problem happens often. Sometimes there will be a lien on a property put because the name is similar and there is NO relation to the actual debtor and the property. If you know a good real estate agent they can tell you how it works in your county on dealing with this. Sometimes there can be an old lien sitting out there because work done on the house was paid late and the contractor never filed a completed and removal of the lien - I dealt with this with one of my aunts estates. Paperwork is just so important.

One especially FUN thing with cc debt is that they can file a 1099-C to your mom.
1099-C is Cancellation of Debt. This counts as income with the IRS and she will have to pay tax on it unless she is able to show impoverishment. There is a whole formula and IRS forms on how to do this. If she gets 1099-C's, do NOT ignore it as it can trigger removal from Medicaid as her "income" will be above the limit due to this.The cc co can go back more than a decade to send out 1099-c's too.

My mom is in TX & under TX law, a homestead is super well protected from creditors in that a judgement cannot be put as a lien against one's homesteaded or primary residence for unsecured debts. I think this is true for FL law too.

I am MEDICAL POA for my dad also and even though he is still a person and able to think .... doctor offices, nursing home, collectors etc... keep using the POA as an excuse to harass me. My dad completed his desires for life support etc... when he entered the nursing home (he is still alert, smart, and he is STILL A PERSON) he picked me as his POA because I will be the most likely to obey his wishes of NO life support. Anyway, I never signed anything and I never signed the POA only him. But now the nursing home and ALL places he ever has an appt get MY INFORMATION!!!! And call me. When you get old and go into a residential nursing home or whatever.... they can really change what THEY want POA to mean. My dad has no money and no assets. Only some VA benefits and medicare. As more and more parents are living into very old age... I think everyones 50s, 60s, 70s, etc... are going to be taken up with parent and their own medical problems and harassment. I know of 70-75 year olds taking care of their 90+ old parent. We need solutions.

Ummm . A new deed is in the making.... After a deceased person's Warranty Deed passes to the other "Joint Tenant" as in JTWRofS, my suggestion is to trot on down to the Courthouse and get a new Deed .....not necessary but nice. A lawyer must order this procedure. The house MUST be protected as it is the largest asset (usually).
I'm not sure whether a "Joint Tenant" can be a sibling, an adult child or does it have to be a spouse only.

The debts are paid out of the estate. When the estate is spend, that's it. The only complication is that if you signed an agreement to pay the debt then you are on the hook. Don't sign anything. Filial laws are not usually enforced. There is a filial law in Utah that has not been enforced. It requires a child to pay debts if the child can but they are not going to transfer poverty from one person to another. Pennsylvannia has attempted to force children to pay bills.

I looked up filial and all I was finding was stuff that didn't make sense. Just referred to a daughter or a son, but nothing else. We never ask my brother in law or sister in law about helping with any debts left behind but I think we will be O. K. Also she does have money to be split between my husband, his sister and brother. I guess her credit card will get paid with that Granted she has any left when she dies.Like you said ,they will take whats theirs 1st. Thanks for answering.She owes 9000.00 on the card.