What is a new business owner's liability for company credit card debt incurred by the previous owner?

When you buy a business, the debts/liabilities come along with the business.  If the business was liable for the credit cards prior to your purchase of the company, then the credit card debt comes with the company and you are simply stepping into the shoes of the prior owners.  One of the ways to have avoided this was to take this debt into consideration at the time of the sale and reduce the purchase price of require that the prior owner pay this debt off with the money you paid for the business.  it sounds like the proir owners either didnt disclose all the debts and you didnt know what you were buying, or you didnt have legal counsel helping you with this transaction to ensure that you re protcted against this.  you (the company) are now going to have top pay for the debt.