Responsa for Bava Batra 348:11

לסוף איגלאי מילתא דכהן הוא אמר אביי היינו דאמרי אינשי בתר עניא אזלא עניותא

an Israelite,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who knows the law that before calling upon the guarantor to pay, the creditor must first approach the debtor. Hence it is possible that valuables might have been deposited with him by the debtor. ');">30 but [in the case of] a Gentile, since he [invariably] goes [for payment] to the guarantor31 [the possibility that] bundles [of valuables were deposited with the creditor] need not be taken into consideration.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As the debtor well knows that the gentile would, in any case, exact payment from the guarantor, who would not entrust him with any valuables which would only enable the gentile to collect the debt twice. ');">32

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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