Personal Finance and Investing

... yes, I could take equity out of the home that is in probate and kill all my revolving debt (and to be fair, let my sister take the same out to take care of anything she needed) .

But her estate far from a "cash cow". Mom really had nothing except this house and her car -- a small savings account, but after the attorney fee, my half would be $1500 tops.

Plus, my end goal is to have housing I can pay for by myself. I am eligible for public housing -- but I'd much rather be able to live in a real house instead of an apartment.

My question is: must the child of a deceased person go through the full refinance/credit checks to assume legal responsibility for the loan? Is it at the lender's discretion like the attorney said, or are there consumer protection laws in place for people who lose relatives and are happy with the current payments?

Until probate is done, I can't even get that possible $1500. And the lawyer says there needs to be progress on getting probate done because judges sometimes dismiss cases that haven't had filed activity in awhile.