The deceased had already entrusted funds to his partner to pay off his debts before he died I think it was the obligation of his colleague to pay them off immediately, and I read that his colleague also said that he would pay off even one of the reasons he created an account on this forum (if I am not mistaken) was to clear this matter, so nothing to be debated.
This not legally true since there is no written contract to enforce this kind of transfer of debt. All loans here in the forum is not legally binded by the law since the contract is just between the lender and the borrower. This is the risk that lender willing to risk by providing loans on anonymous borrower. Only trust is the one connecting both parties to this loan agreement.
The loan will die here if the user didn't respond for a long time or forfeit. Many user already defaulted on there loan and none of them is put on jail or being pursue by the law. This is loan default is same when the user passed away.