Your mother recently passed away and debt collectors are asking you to repay debt?

The debts properly belong to the "Estate" and if you are inheritor of the estate then you can be held responsible to pay the debts. Under estate laws the estate must pay its debts. Normally when the amount of debt outweighs the liquidatable portion of an estate you can 'make a deal' with them to pay off a percentage of the debt. If they will not work with you then you can file bankruptcy on behalf of the estate, and force them to accept that amount, less all fees for bankruptcy (IE: a lot less than they would have gotten). Note however that they cannot affect your credit or your credit score, as the debts are not properly attributable to you.