Comment by jaclaz

>Usually, in most countries, debt is settled with the deceased estate, not with their descendants.

I am not sure to understand, maybe Italy is the outlier, here after someone dies, the heirs (either determined by the Law or nominated in a will) either accept or refuse the inheritance "as a whole", and the inheritance is composed of credits (like money in the bank, estate/houses, other properties, etc.) and debts (including mortgages, debts or loans taken from privates, past unpaid taxes and similar, etc.).

In most cases there is not (anymore) a mortgage on the houses, but if there is, all obligations are part of the inheritance and are passed on to the heirs (if they accept the inheritance).

There are "special" life insurance policies that cover the residual mortgage repayments in case of death, and while many (I believe most if not all) banks will require one of these they are not mandated by Law, so it may happen that the morthage debt is transferred to the new proprietor(s) of the estate, i.e. the nominated heir(s).