After you die, your estate is responsible for your debts. Creditors can make claims against your probate estate for what you owe.
Assets such as life insurance proceeds, IRAs and other qualified plans are non-probate assets. They pass to the person you designated as the beneficiary outside of a probate proceeding. Because they pass outside of probate, they are generally not subject to the claims of creditors.
In fact, the Texas Insurance Code specifically provides that proceeds of insurance policies are fully exempt from garnishment, attachment, execution, or other seizure, regardless of whether an individual beneficiary is named, or the insured estate is the beneficiary.
