After parents died in debt, creditors sued a one-year-old orphan for repayment. How did the court rule?!

[4] Weihai citizens Sun Zhong and his wife Liu Mei tragically died from carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving their two minor daughters (9-year-old Sun Xue and 1-year-old Sun Yu) as defendants.

It turned out that Sun Zhong and his wife had owed over a million yuan in debt before their accidental death. Now, 23 creditors have taken their two minor daughters to court, demanding repayment of the debts their parents left behind. Must these two young children bear such a heavy debt for their parents?

In the end, the court ruled that the business earnings of Sun and his wife, amounting to nearly 100,000 yuan, would be used as the debt enforcement payment, which would be divided among the more than 20 creditors in corresponding proportions. Meanwhile, after Sun's father paid 10,000 yuan in enforcement fees, these creditors voluntarily gave up their claim on Sun's property.

The idea of "the father's debts are repaid by the son" has long existed in China. Does this traditional concept have a legal basis? After parents pass away, must the son truly repay the father's debts?

　　A lawyer from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm believes this view is very one-sided. In some cases, the father's debts need to be repaid by the son, but in other cases, this is not so.

01. Conditions required for "the father's debts are repaid by the son"

(1) The legal inheritance rights between parents and children are valid;

(2) The children have inherited the parents' estate;

(3) The value of the debts repaid is less than the value of the estate.

According to Article 33 of China's Inheritance Law, an heir who inherits an estate shall pay the taxes and debts that the decedent was legally obligated to pay, limited to the actual value of the estate. Any portion exceeding the estate's value is not required unless the heir voluntarily repays it. If the heir renounces the inheritance, they may be exempt from liability for the decedent's taxes and debts.

　　因此，When children inherit their parents' estate, they also inherit their parents' debts, but only to the extent of the inherited estate's value. Debts exceeding the estate's value do not need to be repaid by the children unless they voluntarily do so.

Additionally, parents and children have mutual rights to inherit each other's estates. Not only do children have the right to inherit their parents' estate, but parents also have the right to inherit their children's estate, implying mutual obligations to inherit debts. Thus, it is possible for "father's debts to be repaid by the child" or "child's debts to be repaid by the father."

02. Under what circumstances must "father's debts be repaid by the child"?

(1) If the debt is a family debt, regardless of whether the parents have died or the children have inherited the parents' estate, the children, as family members, have a joint obligation to repay it.

(2) If children fail to fulfill their duty of support, forcing parents to borrow from others to maintain their livelihood, the children are obligated to repay such debts.