Things will vary by state, for sure. My experience with my mother in law was strange, IMO. My wife called the credit card companies and said she passed away. They said "I'm sorry to hear that. Please send a copy of the death cert to xxx" and that was it. None of them really asked to be paid, and there was nothing in the estate to pay them from in any case. I would start with just saying he has passed and let them ask if they want to be paid. Her car went back to the bank repo, so did the house as she owed way more than we could have got for it. It was a mess.
One thing that is important to know is that any of his debts are just that- HIS. Not yours. While some debtors may try to get you to pay them for him, you would be very unwise to do so as you do not have any responsibility to do so. Now there could be exceptions like a car with only a small amount owed on it would make more sense to pay off rather than have it repossessed for a pittance of debt, if it is worth anything decent.
The attorneys were another deal. They told us they get paid from the estate, but yet when they set it up, they listed it as working for my wife (executor). As noted, there was bupkis for money in the estate but they wanted us to pay them for what I felt was excessive fees for doing very little. We negotiated a settlement for roughly half what they said we owed which still felt like too much but was better than a protracted fight. So make sure to ask who they work for and who is on the hook to pay them.
Sorry about your brother. Way too young for that....
