Responsa for Bava Batra 348:19

אמר רב הונא שכיב מרע שהקדיש כל נכסיו ואמר מנה לפלוני בידי נאמן חזקה אין אדם עושה קנוניא על הקדש

of all, not responsible for payment;54 a kabbelan for a creditor is, in the opinion of all, responsible for payment; [in the case, however, of] a kabbelan for a kethubah or a guarantor for a creditor, there is a dispute. [One] Master holds that he55 is responsible only where the debtor has property, but if he has none, he is not responsible;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since no one would guarantee a loan where it is known that the debtor has no means wherewith to meet his obligations. A guarantee in such a case must not, therefore, be taken seriously. ');">56

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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