Paying off the loans 8 years ago doesn’t mean he was in default since he graduated law school in 1991 and his wife in 1988. As long as they made the required payments they wouldn’t be in default. I think you have 10 years to pay it back without extension or other provisions. We’d have to have the details about their student loans, both graduate and undergraduate to know the details. 1991 to 2002 (8 years ago) is 11 years and since school normally ends in June that means the loan was probably paid back in 10 years. What we don’t know is the amount of the loans, were they paid on time and who actually paid the loans back.