My father's estate is being sued, do I have to pay?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Some background first:

I’m a student. I’m working part time, making a little more than minimum wage, in a temporary job (I’m already looking for a new one). I can barely afford rent at the moment, my girlfriend contributes money for food and the little things that brake or need replacement around the apartment. I also owe money up the ying yang to my mom (bless her heart) for some recent car repairs I had to make (brakes were really bad, as well as shocks and there was some problem with the engine).

My father passed away february of this year do to some complications from colen cancer. Ever since I’ve been getting bills for thousands of dollars for his hospital stay prior to his death, and for the stay the day of his death (I’m was even getting billed for the ambulance ride to the hospital the day he passed away). There were also some bills that dealt with his cancer treatment which my father was trying to straighten out (there was a problem with the medicade coverage I didn’t know the specifics).

I had no clue what to do about the bills. I certainly could not pay them. And those billing my father apparently did not know he had passed away. So I tried speaking with medicare to see if they were going to pay for this stuff or what. They were less than helpful.

One of my friends told me that when a person passes away, the bills are no longer anyone’s responsability. I was skeptical, but I had no other course of action. So I informed the bill collectors of my father’s death.

It’s been a few months now, I’m in my new apartment (I was staying with my ftaher helping him out while he was sick), and now I receive a letter from the bill collectors in the order of a few thousand dollars stating that their suing my dad’s estate for that amount.

His ‘estate’ was the less than 1500 dollars in his bank account which I used for his funeral arrangements and other expenses which showed up during that time. Oh, and a sofa and a tv set I kept (the rest -mostly clothes, some furniture- was either given to his side of the family or given to charity). The only thing of real worth was his car, which (after consulting the funeral director! :wink: ) was signed over to me a couple of weeks before my father died.

So, I’m asking you knowladgeable dopers:

How liable am I for this debt? Not that I can pay it even if I am liable. Maybe if I sell my kidney?

No really, what course of action should I take?

2

Does your college have a legal aid office? (Cheap or free legal advice for students?) If so, that’s where I’d start looking.

3

I second the recommendation that you seek legal advice.

Generally, tho, the extent of any liability would be limited to the assets in the estate - the $1500 and the car. The extent various assets may be exempt from collection is a matter not best addressed on a MB.

4

I’d talk to a lawyer as well, but I know my girlfriend’s mom didn’t keep up on her taxes and she ended up being MINUTES away from losing the house. I seriously doubt they’d be concerned with the $1500 in the bank. And since the car is yours, I don’t think they can touch that anymore. But call someone who knows.

5

Bottomline - whether their claims are legit or not, they could potentially screw with your credit rating.
So I would take steps to clear this up, rather than simply ignoring it.

6

IANAL etc. If the estate is being sued then the estate is the entity that would be liable to satisfy the judgment. This means that any assets of the estate, including any real or personal property, can be used to satisfy any judgment. The heirs or benficiaries of the estate are not responsible for the debts of the estate, although the executor of the estate is responsible for paying any legal and properly claimed debts out of the assets. I don’t know what if any recourse the plaintiffs would have in pursuing the heirs to recover property that was distributed prior to the judgment but my feeling is that the plaintiffs are SOL if the property has already been distributed, as long as it was not done in an attempt to defraud the creditor (so watch that car). YMMV by jurisdiction and this is not legal advice.

I would definitely go along with the suggestion that you consult an attorney. Spending a couple hundred dollars now on a consultation to potentially save thousands later along with avoiding the headaches is definitely worth it.

7

Some funky situations can occur depending on the particular state’s stiffs and gifts laws.
Some states allow quite informal proceedings, especially with small estates such as this one. Can lead to difficult situations where the same person is both the administrator and beneficiary.

8

IANAL, but when my father died, deeply in debt, no one came looking for me. Unless you previously signed documents stating that you were liable for the medical bills (or whatever bills), you’re father’s estate owes the money, and unless there’s some estate left for them to take, they’re SOL (IMO). There might be some customarily-accepted notion that adult children are legally responsible for their parents, but I don’t think it’s a legal one. If you still had that $1500 in the bank, they might try to get that from you, but only as a result of a legal judgement, and they’d have to have some pretty big stones to take it to court. (If it gets that far, write your local newspaper or local TV news show about your situation. That would be interesting.) Again, IANAL.

BTW: I’m pretty sure the car’s yours, and I’m sorry you lost your father.

9

Laws vary from state to state & so, it’s pointless to give legal opinions on this, I guess.

Why not call the hospital & explain things to them as ours has a special fund to cover things like this.

10

Talk you a lawyer.

For my .02, I would think that your father’s estate is liable for the bills. Since the estate is minimal, I would think they would write off the debt, since there’s no way to collect.

Of course, that’s just a WAG on my part…but it just seems logical to me.

11

:smack:

Talk you a lawyer???

12

Hey, don’t knock it - it’s an improvement.

13

IANAL so take this cum grano salis. (Lawyer-speak for “I may be full of it”)

I just went through this, including the living with Dad part, so you have my sympathies. Not easy, but the work is not over.

Before accepting any inheritance or executor/liquidator duties you should find out exactly the value of the estate, i.e. assets minus debts, you are not legally responsible for any debts if you refuse an inheritance or liquidator duties. The car may be yours legally, having been gifted before death, but any assets your father had at the moment of death belong to creditors before beneficiaries. Having accepted even furniture or control of assets may make you liable for all estate debts. I hate to have to say this, but you now need real legal advice, not message board speculation.

14

Just to clarify:

The total worth of my father’s estate was:

  1. 1500 in the bank.
  2. His clothes, some furniture, and a tv set.

The clothes and furniture was thrown out except for a sofa and tv set which I kept.

The rest of his family got some nick nacks, some clothes and pictures.

The 1500 I used to pay for the funeral arrangements (it came out to a little over a thousand dollars) as well as some sudden expenses (I was a student and not working at the time) such as gas for the car, food for myself, etc. for the month I stayed at my dad’s place before moving out.

So currently, there is nothing left of his estate safe for the sofa, tv set (which I still have) and my car (which he signed over to me before he died).

I want to thank all of you for your advise, I guess it’s time to spend some money on a lawyer, especially if it’s going to safe me some headaches (and money) in the future.

Kind regards,
Kin

15

eunoia is right…that’s been my experience as a former debt collector.

~J