This isn’t about grieving, just assuming the complete absence of your family and all the inheritance.
I’d pay off my medical debt and go back to university. I’m so tired. I just want to learn and stop struggling. I don’t even qualify for my own debt so I have to have it in someone else’s name, being bound to an abuser…
Yes. But you can also get on the hook for it. For example, there are laws in my state for small estates. It lets the family take over assets like a checking account without going through probate that often takes over a year. But if you do so you also take on any debt, even if you don’t know about it. It is better to just go through probate.
It is also why you should not pay the funeral expenses for someone that dies.