Death and Debt: Only One Is Inevitable

We have a tradition here at Debt.com. Every Halloween, we poll 1,000 adults and ask them about dying. Specifically, we want to know how they feel about dying in debt.

We’re trying to be motivational, not morbid. Many Americans just assume they’ll die with significant personal debt, since they’ve lived most of their lives that way. But while death is a sure thing, debt is not.

You can read the full survey results here, but several of this year’s answers intrigued me.

Weddings, holidays, and funerals

Much of the debt we all carry isn’t from frivolous spending. It’s what I call “peer-pressure debt.” That’s the stress we put upon ourselves to buy expensive holiday and birthday gifts for the people we love. Or go to a destination wedding that blows our budget. Or, yes, pay for a funeral we can’t afford.

Just over 6 in 10 told our researchers they would “take on debt for a family member’s funeral.” And for nearly a quarter (23%), that debt would range from $5,000 to well over $10,000.

Simply going to a funeral can put you in debt. Almost a third (32%) have spent money they don’t have to attend one – from $500 to over $2,000.

Now, $500 might not sound like a lot of debt, but if you charged it to a credit card with a 20% interest rate – which is around the national average right now – that can easily balloon into five figures after several months.

The myth of dying in debt

There’s a cliche that says, “It’s best to die broke.” The aim, obviously, is to spend everything having a good time and leave nothing behind. That works if you don’t have family and friends you care about. But if you do, you definitely don’t want to die broke. And you certainly don’t want to die in debt.

There’s a myth, based on fact, that your loved ones can’t inherit your debt – that debt dies with you. You can learn the truth here: What Happens to Your Debt When You Die?

The confusion comes from the difference between secured and unsecured debt. Credit cards are unsecured debt, which means your big balances disappear when you do – as long as your spouse’s name isn’t on the account. If it is then those balances become theirs.

It can get complicated from here – if you live in a community property state, for example – but by and large, dying in debt is a burden to those you leave behind. It costs money to settle an estate, and your loved ones are already going to be emotional wrecks.

In our latest survey, just shy of a quarter of respondents (24%) took on debt after a loved one’s death – from $1,000 to over $5,000. Overwhelmingly, that was credit card debt. Just under 60% said they had inherited that debt, most likely because their names were on those cards.

What you leave behind

Here’s the saddest result of our 2025 Death and Debt survey. We asked, “If you’ve taken on debt after a loved one’s death, how did that affect you?” Among the responses:

What’s especially heart-rending is that none of this is necessary. You can get out of debt while you’re still very much alive. You can reap the benefits of being debt-free while you’re still here, and you can focus on leaving behind assets instead of debt.

Death is inevitable. Debt is not. Call us now. Before it’s too late.