You are now in debt with me, pay up!

They will go after the estate. i.e any property he has.

In fact debtors get first dibs. You even have to publish a public notice telling creditors this is their last chance to collect. Most local papers publish these notices. Here's one I've edited from my local paper:

Estate of xxxxxxxx
Notice is hereby given that on June 25 of 2025 Letters Testamentary (or of Administration as the case may be) in respect of the estate of xxxxxxxx, who died 2/11/2025, were issued to the undersigned by the Anderson County Chancery Court of Anderson County, Tennessee. All persons, resident and non-resident, having claims, matured or unmatured, against the estate are required to file the same with the Clerk of the above-named Court on or before the earlier of the dates prescribed in (1) or (2) otherwise their claims will be forever barred: (1)(A) Four (4) months from the date of the first publication (or posting, as the case may be) of this notice if the creditor received an actual copy of this notice to creditors at least sixty (60) days before date that is four (4) months from the date of the first publication (or posting); or (B) Sixty (60) days from the date the creditor received an actual copy of the notice to creditors, if the creditor received the copy of the notice less than sixty (60) days prior to the date that is four (4) months from the date of the first publication (or posting) as described in (1)(A); or(2) Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s date of death.

With probate you either have to give reasonable notice by putting an obituary in the paper eg and then any claimed debts can be brought forth within [X] months, or you can not do so, and any claimed debts can be brought forth in [longer X months]. Some debts are transferrable to next of kin I suspect, though don't really know.

Originally posted by Acetyl:

With probate you either have to give reasonable notice by putting an obituary in the paper eg and then any claimed debts can be brought forth within [X] months, or you can not do so, and any claimed debts can be brought forth in [longer X months]. Some debts are transferrable to next of kin I suspect, though don't really know.

Only if next of kin undersigned. Otherwise, they get dibs on the estate before any inheritors.

those who inherit assets also inherit the debt. if there's no inheritance then indeed there is no way to handle the debt beyond writing it off. it's one of the expected risks on the part who gave the loan.

For details you need to read the whole contract, there may be collateral, other responsible people, etc.

Debts sometimes do go unpaid. Let’s say I had no assets and is 50,000 dollars in debt. You cannot take something that I don’t have. And in that case they’re out of luck.

It’s like suing a hobo for 100,000,000 dollars. You ain’t getting anything out of him.

The debt only dies with you if you leave no assets behind. Anyone you owe has first dibs on your estate. Anything that's left behind goes to your inheritors.