When a person dies, he leaves his heirs an estate, made up of both assets and rights as well as debts and obligations. When we accept the inheritance, unless we do it for the benefit of inventory, we inherit the debts and obligations of the deceased and we will become joint and severally liable for the debts of the deceased if so established in these.
This is the case of the debts that the deceased had contracted with Social Security derived from the non-payment of contributions and other obligations. In this case, it is the debtors who did not pay the fees, the joint and several persons in charge, subsidiaries and successors Mortis causa of the debtor, that is, the heirs. In the following article, we answer the question: Are social security debts inherited? Read on to find out.
Are social security debts inherited?
Once the Treasury services have detected that there is an heir or several, they will claim the debt that the deceased had contracted. This claim will not be limited only to the money owed by the deceased, but also to the interest derived from the non-payment of the debt and other costs derived from it.
Once the debt has been claimed from us, as we have become jointly and severally liable for it, if the assets left by the deceased are not enough to satisfy it, we will have to respond with our assets.
We must remember that we become jointly and severally liable both if we have accepted the inheritance expressly and if we have done so tacitly, that is, by performing any act that implies that we have accepted it, such as disposing of any of the goods included in it.
What to do if I inherit a Social Security debt
Let’s see below what are the possible ways of acting in the situation of inheriting a Social Security debt:
Pay and put your own estate at risk: if the heirs accept the debt, they will have to pay the debt in full and respond as if they were the deceased himself. They are responsible for everything and if they do not have enough liquidity to face the payment, you will also have to respond with their own assets.
Pay the debt only with the inheritance: if you want to avoid putting your own assets at risk, there is the possibility of accepting the inheritance for the benefit of inventory. This means paying the debt only with the inheritance assets and acquiring the rest of the assets once the debt has been settled.
Do not pay: to not pay the debt, the inheritance can be rejected so that you do not have to face any payment.
To avoid becoming Social Security debtors by inheritance, we have two ways: we can accept it for the benefit of inventory or reject the inheritance. In the first case, the debts will be satisfied with the assets of the deceased and, if any assets remain, we will inherit them, and in the second we will not inherit anything, neither debts nor assets. Typically, the most beneficial option is acceptable for the benefit of inventory.
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