Who is responsible for paying off a deceased person's debts before inheritance is distributed?

The deceased's estate itself is responsible — debts (dayn) must be paid off from the estate before any inheritance is distributed to heirs, and this comes even before the one-third discretionary wasiyyah is executed. The standard order of priority in Islamic law is: (1) funeral/burial expenses, (2) outstanding debts, (3) the wasiyyah (up to one-third of what remains), and only then (4) distribution of the remaining estate to the fixed heirs.

This means if a person dies with debts equal to or exceeding the value of their estate, heirs may receive little or nothing until those debts are settled — heirs are not personally obligated to pay a deceased relative's debts from their own separate wealth, but they also cannot simply divide the estate while ignoring debts owed to creditors. Debts owed to Allah (like unpaid zakat or an unfulfilled Hajj obligation) are generally treated with the same seriousness as debts owed to people, and scholars encourage heirs to settle these promptly as an act of care for the deceased.

Source: general Sunni fiqh consensus on the order of estate settlement (funeral costs, then debts, then wasiyyah, then inheritance); see Islamweb and comparable fatwa guidance on debt repayment priority.