3 debts your kids are under no obligation to pay when you die — some reach 6 figures (even if the collectors call first)

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Worried you might be weighed down with a parent's debts or expenses after they die? You might not need to worry.

As it turns out, you may have limited obligations to pay your parents' debts if they die (or to take on their expenses if they're still alive). And, if you're a parent, there are steps you can take to prevent your adult children from taking on your debts, if you were to die.

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There are three types of parental debt that adult children can avoid paying — even if the debt collectors come calling. Here's what you need to know.

To start thinking about how to deal with a parent's debt, it helps to use an example.

Tampa resident Morgan recently called (1) into The Ramsey Show to ask how she can navigate a "super large amount of debt." While she says she has a full-time job, she just graduated three months ago — and she's saddled with her disabled mother's and late father's expenses.

Not only does she have student loans to pay off, but she's also taken on significant debt to help her mother, who has a spending problem. Now, Morgan owes $193,000, of which at least $120,000 has a 17% interest rate.

At the same time, she's incurring the carrying costs on her late father's apartment, which has been on the market for a year, as well as on a property he left behind in Romania. But even if she sells the apartment below market, it won't cover all her debt.

The show's cohost George Kamel began by advising Morgan to refinance her loans "to get a little breathing room," while telling her she "can't keep covering everybody's expenses as much as you want to."

Beyond refinancing her debt, the cohosts told Morgan she needs to move out of her mother's house and take control of her disability payments — to put a stop to her mom's frivolous spending.

However, they stressed that she should not take over her mother's mortgage. That's because if an adult child cosigns, guarantees or takes over any of a parent's debts, they'll be obligated to pay those debts after the parent dies.