A. After a person dies, the estate, rather than the heirs, usually must pay back the debts, although this means a heir will have less to inherit.
Retirement accounts and life insurance payments do not go through probate, so creditors usually cannot claim them.
For the other debts, such as credit card debt and car loans, the estate is responsible for them.
For mortgages, it's more complicated, please see our previous blog post for a more detailed discussion.