My father passed away a few months ago and left some debts with the bank (mortgage and credit card). I'm his only daughter and heir. Am I legally obligated to pay these debts with my own money, or does only the inheritance cover them?
basically your personal money is safe! your father's debts are only paid with whatever he left as an inheritance, not from your own pocket - that's the principle of limited liability of inheritance. now, if you accepted the inheritance without restrictions you're liable for the debts up to the limit of what you inherited, but if you'd refused the entire inheritance you'd have escaped it all! what you need to do is contact a lawyer or the property registry to formalize how the assets and debts will be divided, because no bank is going to let things hang in the air and there may be important legal deadlines you don't want to miss. it's annoying, true, but don't put this off!
The previous answer is right, but there's an important detail: you need to decide whether you accept the inheritance or reject it. If you accept it, the debts come out of the estate you receive (the house, bank accounts, everything). Now, if you reject the inheritance to avoid dealing with the debts, then you don't get anything either. In practice, most people accept and let the bank sort things out with the deceased's assets - your money is protected either way.
What nobody's really making clear is that you have a deadline to make this decision. It's usually a few months (depends on where you live in Portugal), and during that time you can ask the bank for complete information about the debts before deciding whether to accept or reject the inheritance. It's not something you need to figure out right away.
If you accept the inheritance, it's true that the debts come out of what he left behind - the house, savings, all of that. If the total value of the debts is bigger than the estate (like, owing 100k and only leaving 50k in assets), then you don't lose your own money, the inheritance just doesn't cover everything and the bank doesn't get paid the rest. Now, if you reject the inheritance, you don't inherit anything, neither the assets nor the debts - it all stays behind.
The catch is this: before you sign anything with the bank or do things like paying his bills or messing with his accounts, talk to your lawyer, because some actions can be interpreted as tacit acceptance of the inheritance. Better to have that straight before you do anything.
You're not automatically responsible for his debts just because you're an heir - the other answers already explained that well. But here's a practical detail that can make a difference: before you accept or reject the inheritance, you can request an inventory from the bank to find out exactly how much he owes, and then you can do the math to see if it's worth inheriting or if it's better to renounce it. A lot of people don't take that time to get properly informed and end up making a rushed decision, so it's worth not being in a hurry about this.
Log into answer.
