Responsa for Bava Batra 348:17

דאיתמר ערב דכתובה דברי הכל לא משתעבד קבלן דבעל חוב דברי הכל משתעבד קבלן דכתובה וערב דבעל חוב פליגי מר סבר אי אית ליה נכסי ללוה משתעבד אי לית ליה לא משתעבד ומר סבר בין אית ליה ובין לית ליה משתעבד

is not responsible for payment? — He was a kabbelan.48 This [reply] would be quite correct according to him who said that, though the husband had no property, a kabbelan for a kethubah is responsible for payment; what, however, can be replied according to him who said [that] he is responsible for payment [only] where the [husband]49 has [property], but is not responsible for payment where the husband has not?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since R. Huna was poor, he could not have been the possessor of any property. His father, consequently, though a kabbelan, could not have become liable for the payment of the kethubah. ');">50

Teshuvot Maharam

Q. A says that B's mother before her death instructed B to give A one Mina out of her possessions, since she had owed money to A's mother and did not remember whether or not she had repaid the entire sum. B denies having received such instructions from his mother, and further claims that A's mother owed him more than one Mina. But A has witnesses who testify that after his mother's death B admitted having received these instructions.
A. Since B's mother did not take the required oath regarding her ketubah, she had no property of her own; even the clothes she wore on week-days belonged to the estate. Consequently B is unable to carry out his mother's instructions. B is under no moral obligation to repay his mother's debt since the mother herself had not been pressed for payment.
SOURCES: Cr. 76.

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