What You Need to Know About Creditor's Rights in Your State

Creditors have a right to get paid after someone dies. Learn more about creditor's rights.

In all states, creditors have a right to make a claim against a probate estate for money that is owed to them by the decedent. And creditors' claims have a priority over the beneficiaries' rights to distribution from the estate. 

Click on the state-specific article below to learn about what rights creditors have in your state, and how long they have to exercise those rights.

You may also be interested in:

• What You Need to Know About Your State's Small Estates Limit

  Small estates don't have to go through probate to be distributed. Find out what State's limit is for this small estates procedure.

• What You Need to Know About Probate in Your State

  Each state has its own rules about probate. Find out how they do it in State.

• What You Need to Know About Inheritance Law In Your State

  Here is an overview of how this site works and what articles you'll find most useful. It can be confusing to sort out the process, the taxes, and the issues that arise after someone's death. This site will help.

About Liza Hanks

Liza Hanks is a partner at GCA Law Partners LLP in Mountain View, California, where she practices estate planning, trust administration, and probate law. She’s the author of Every Californian’s Guide to Estate Planning: Wills, Trusts & Everything Else and The Trustee’s Legal Companion (with Attorney Carol Zolla) and she writes about estate planning and inheritance law here at Legal Consumer. Liza is a graduate of Stanford Law School, a former magazine editor, and the mother of two children (neither of whom show any desire to become attorneys).