Is this correct, question about debt.?

My wife is from the Czech Republic. She was raised by her grandmother and doesn't really have a relationship with her mom. Her mom ran up a ton of debts, failed to pay rent at an apartment, didn't pay her electric and gas, and some other debts that come up to almost 30K. The companies she owes the money to now expect my wife to pay for her mother's debts and apparently that's legal in Czech. Does this seem right?