No - and it doesn't matter if the amount of the debt is major or minor.The issue is not one of relationship to the deceased. Rather, it is an issue of relationship to the debt. They are NOT one and the same thing.Card holders are legally liable for credit card debt. This is true, regardless of whether you are the primary card holder or a joint card holder.If you are only what's known as an authorized user, you are NOT liable for the credit card debt. It doesn't matter what the credit card company's representatives say. What matters is your status as card holder or authorized user. Whether you are the deceased's child or not does not alter the core, underlying question.If you are going through probate of your parent's estate, then you shouldn't pay the credit card debts, even if your parent was the primary or a joint card holder of the credit card debt in question prematurely. If the credit card company wants that debt paid, then it needs to file a claim on the estate. If it doesn't, then don't pay the debt.If it does file a claim, then deny the claim. If the credit card company wants to get paid, then let do what is required of it by the probate process.Typically, State law will prfor the priority to receive payment for debts under the State law's probate code. Credit card debt is often of the unsecured debt variety. The law can always change, of course, and specific details may vary from State to State. But, credit card companies should not be given priority for payment of credit card debt incurred by the deceased, simply because their representatives may call you out of the blue and try to pressure one or more of the deceased individual's children.If the credit card company/companies choose to not file a claim with the probate court, then they, in effect, fore go payment for the credit card debt in question. It doesn't matter how much the amount of the credit card debt is. That the amount of the debt may seem like a lot to the children of the deceased, even to the point of the children considering it to be major credit card debt, but just because you feel that way does not mean that you're liable for the debt, nor even that the credit card company is likely to ever collect on even a penny of that debt.They use pressure tactics and guilt trips on relatives of the deceased, because they full well know that the law typically makes unsecured credit card debt a low priority for payment by an estate.At the point that your parent dies, they cease to owe debts. Rather, their estate owes debts. It has nothing to do with your parent's honor. That is a tactic of credit card companies to guilt trip you into assuming a debt that you have zero liability for.Use the probate process to protect yourself from paying debts of the deceased prematurely. If the credit card companies want the debt that they allege is owed to them by the deceased, then let them get in line and wait. The personal representative of the estate, also known as the executor of the estate, should exercise caution, so as to not pay debts out of the priority that the law affords to various categories of debt.Just because a credit card company files a claim on an estate does not mean that they will - nor should - get paid, necessarily.If you are an authorized user of a credit card, but not a primary or joint card holder, then even if you, yourself, used the credit card to charge stuff on it, you are still not legally liable for the debt.There's a reason that credit card companies use pressure tactics, shame tactics, and guilt trips on relatives of deceased credit card holders. Many times, it works - even in instances where no one in the family is liable for the debt in question.If you want or need legal advice, then by all means, you should contact an attorney. If you want to know what the priority for payment of debts by estates is, then you can learn that by consulting your State's probate code in your State's code of laws.In any event, don't let credit card companies and their representatives prey upon your ignorance, and particularly not during your time of grieving. If they call you on the phone, hang up on them. If the send you copies of your deceased parent's credit card bills, then either file them or give them to the estate's personal representative. You don't have to talk to them. You don't have to let them make you miserable.Informing yourself can go a long way toward peace of mindu00a0 in dealing with pushy credit card companies in the wake of your parent's death.