No. Even if you are the named Executor, a beneficiary or heir inheriting property from someone, if the deceased person is solely responsible for the mortgage and the sole title holder on to the property, you will have no personal liability for the mortgage. The mortgage company cannot make a derogatory remark on your credit if you have not applied for and received the mortgage. That debt belongs only to the person who was approved and received the loan.
Further protection from mortgage companies is provided by NRS 174.150 which provides that:
No holder of a claim against an estate may maintain an action thereon unless the claim is first filed with the clerk and the claim is rejected in whole or in part, except in the following case: An action may be brought by the holder of a mortgage to enforce the mortgage against the property of the estate subject thereto if all recourse against any other property of the estate is expressly waived in the complaint.
In practice, that means that a mortgage company can bring an action to enforce a mortgage against the real property but must waive the right to pursue any deficiency from any other property of the estate. For example, if an estate has two assets, a house worth $100,000 with a mortgage of $250,000 and a bank account containing $200,000, a mortgage company can bring a foreclosure action against the house and can receive the house as full satisfaction of the debt owed. The mortgage company cannot pursue the bank account of $200,000 to try and recover the deficiency. The Personal Representative can then file a petition with the probate court to distribute the entire bank account to the heirs and not have to pay any of the other assets towards the deficiency balance on the mortgage. The mortgage company must waive that right if they seek to foreclose on the real property.
There are other statutes and procedures in effect which require creditors to take specific action to assert their claims against estates. Neither the Administrator, Executor nor the heirs are ever personally responsible for the bills or other creditor claims belonging to the deceased.
