My husband, 39, died, leaving me with about $500K in debt between our mortgage, credit card and his consumer debt — will I be stuck paying it all?

Marcus, an impulse buyer, had also accumulated $70,000 of his own consumer debt and taken out an additional $10,000 private loan that Elena had co-signed. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t have life insurance, and their emergency fund barely covered funeral expenses.

You can’t put a price on losing a loved one, but you can put a number on their unpaid debts.

Knowing which ones you may be responsible for is critical.

The truth about debt after death

Typically, a deceased person’s debt doesn’t pass to their surviving spouse or children.

But there are exceptions.

If a debt was solely in the deceased person’s name, like Marcus’s consumer debt, it’s paid out of their estate, which is the sum of their assets, such as savings, investments and property.

If the estate doesn’t have enough to cover those debts, the surviving family isn’t usually on the hook and the debt will typically go unpaid.

In the case of federal student loans, the student loans are discharged upon someone’s death.

If it’s a car loan, the car may be repossessed.

One exception where you may be on the hook is if you co-signed the loan, like Elena did with Marcus’s $10,000 personal loan, or held debt jointly, like Marcus and Elena’s HELOC and shared credit card. In these cases, you are legally responsible for the full balance.

Another exception? Community property laws in states where both assets and debt are considered the joint property of married couples, even after one spouse dies.

As the Federal Trade Commission warns, you need to be aware of community property laws if you live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Elena’s home state of Washington or Wisconsin.

Moreover, in some states, a surviving spouse may be responsible for paying a loved one’s debt related to their health-care expenses.

The good news is that debts aren’t typically due right away.

When someone dies, their estate has to go through probate — the legal process of validating a person’s will, settling their debts and distributing remaining assets in their estate. Creditors have three to six months to file a claim against the estate.

How to handle debt left by a loved one?

If, like Elena, you’re suddenly responsible for big bills after a loved one’s death, you’re not alone, and you have a few options.

Negotiate. Creditors may accept partial payment for settlements, especially for private loans or credit card debt.