AITA for letting my cousins take me to court over a family debt they now fully own?

[@foxstories68]

AITA for letting my cousins take me to court over a family debt they now fully own? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3irnJR7aL1joq8

[@hyenakmu]

That's not how inheritance works. When someone dies, debts are subtracted from properties, and then whatever remains, is the inheritance. If the inheritance is negative, the heirs can decline to inherit.

[@impishrebel5969]

Depends on the country. Not all countries handle it the same way.

[@2xtreem4u]

In Japan you can inherit debt

[@cresantspoon1204]

Sounds like I'd have to get emancipated if the family was in debt.

[@Arvinsky-z1b]

I thought only guys can inherit debt.

[@annhans3535]

Yeah, depends on the country you can inherit debt. However, if OP had consulted a lawyer and withdrew from any claims to the inheritance then he might have been allowed to walk free. But now he has assumed payment and have therefore tied himself to it.

[@tunatofu63]

If an inheritance is more debt than asset for example you would have to pay off a $700k debt to get a $50k house you can renounce the inheritance in full. No house but no debt either.

[@heffa3821]

absolutely right!!! but if i'm understanding the four of them took on the debt to help the surviving grandmother right??? It was just so much drama and those idiots trying to get over on OP I don't really remember.

[@Wildwestwrangler]

I would have walked away from it all, and said, I am not liable

[@tunatofu63]

I don't see the benefit to paying this debt. Is there a huge estate thats being paid off and transferred to the payees?

[@MarkStockman-b4j]

I'm guessing that's the case. Reading between the lines, the most obvious asset would be the Grandparents' house, where poor Grandma is presumably living. It totally makes sense that Granddad would have taken equity out of the house to prop up his business ventures. I may actually take some equity out of our house to start up a business in 2025, but we have the passive income to make the payments in case the business venture doesn't pan out.

[@DrownedInExile]

OP has got this all wrong. He's not the one declaring war. His deadbeat cousins did that when they abdicated their financial responsibilities. Money doesn't change people, it reveals them. Family was already broken.

[@einyv]

OP was wrong because debt doesn't pass on that way. He could have renounced the inheritance. So it's BS.

[@MarkStockman-b4j]

@@einyv That would be the case in most countries- IF OP and his cousins (for whatever reason) hadn't voluntarily signed a legal agreement to take on the debt. So, not necessarily BS.

[@einyv]

@@MarkStockman-b4j true, I just don't know who is their right mind would take on a grandparents debt. If they both are gone, oh well, the debt won't get paid, by me.

[@raranjan4383]

Seems to me you deserve everything they dished out to you. Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes.

[@mirisoji8406]

You all could have refused the debt. Why would you take on the debt of someone else esp since that person is already passes away? The creditors would have gone after any remaining assets instead and would not affected any of you, except for maybe your grandmother if her name was on any. She'd be better off filling bankruptcy and having her family directly help HER instead of paying back the banks a debt none of you actually owe.

[@mirisoji8406]

Literally all this family drama that can't be undone if you all didn't sign those inheritance papers taking on debt.

[@MarkStockman-b4j]

Yeah, but would that have meant Grandma's house getting foreclosed on?

[@raranjan4383]

Seems you are wrong about pretty much everything.

[@racheleaston7937]

I agree, why he would do anything for his cousins is beyond me. I would have laughed as they went bankrupt,

[@steelwings2037]

Agreeing to pay off a dead person's debt you had no legal obligation to was your first mistake.