Deceased parents credit card debt

Location: Long Island, NY

I am the executor for my parent's estate. They passed away in 2022 and, at the time of their passing, were in the middle of a lawsuit. The case has since been settled for a seven-figure amount to be divided among the beneficiaries (myself and my family members). However, even though my parent's lawyers have the settlement, they want to first address my parent's credit card debt.

It has been some months since they started and they eventually had to loop me in because I am the executor of my parent's estate and some creditors would not speak to the lawyers. However, in speaking to Credit Card A, they chose to forgive the debt and issued me a 1099c form. Credit Card B agreed to settle for a smaller amount but then informed me in a verbal disclosure that, "Credit Card B is no longer legally allowed to collect on the debt since [my parent's] accounts have been time barred since January 2025 and any payment I would make would be considered voluntary." This then snowballed into a whole thing because I was informed of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act § 1803. I called Credit Card C and they told me they had charged off the account and when i called the debt collections service, they said they had trouble reinstating the account because it was so old and they had closed the file and if I wanted to pay it from my parent's estate I would have to send a tracked check in the mail???

I called some free legal services/consultation lawyers and one advised that there is no legal requirement to pay debt that isn't validated with a filed claim in court and another advised that there is money put aside to address this debt should the creditors seek additional action in the future.

I spoke to my parent's lawyers and they strongly advised against not paying the debt because in their decades of experience they always pay off the debt after a settlement has been reached.

I am just not sure what to do and after this phone call with the medical malpractice lawyers, I feel like I am making a mistake not paying the debt even though it is not legally required. What should I do? Please help.

Edit: Thank you everyone for your responses. For some additional context, initially the medical malpractice lawyers told me they didn’t feel comfortable advising because it wasn’t their area of expertise and after I sought additional council from some legal services in Long Island from lawyers, who are knowledgeable in estate and consumer law.

It was only when I went back quoting the legal resources the other lawyers provided me that the medical malpractice lawyers strongly advise me against it and I felt like I was making a mistake.