Mother in law problems (long)

Contact a bankruptcy lawyer.... in most cases the first visit and analysis is free.

Sue, I am dealing with a similar situation myself. For years Spegial had tried to collect a debt from my mother, but the thing is my mother didn't make the debt. There is a lady several hundred miles from us that made it. She has the same name as my mother but when they looked up the name they found my mother with that name so they have attached her address and birthday to this woman's debt. It stops for a year or two and starts back up. My mother will have been dead two years in April and they are still trying to collect the debt. I know the other woman, where she works and that is what is in the information they have. They also have the other woman's social security number, which is what saves me at this time, plus the fact that her estate has been closed and settled. I got another letter yesterday and have had phone calls after phone calls the last two weeks. Tomorrow I am going to call the attorney generals office, I suggest you do the same. They can sometimes help when things like this happen.

Jacqueline in KY

Just nosing around for a few minutes I found this:

might find more info checking that and Clark Howard'spages out. There should be some smart folks here that can help. My thoughts from all I have heard is that you have no obligation to clear her debts. You have informed the debtors of the situation. There are laws about harassment. I think once you inform them you are pretty much done. They will sooner or later probably go away. They can't attach your monies so I would probably just disregard the whole mess of them. Screen your calls and chuck their letters. What a mess. I'm sorry you have to deal with it. Hugs, TAria

Sue Str> About two years ago, we had to put my MIL in a nursing home- she had been

Check with your County Area on Aging. This is a section of the County Government. They will have local resources to help you in this.

G> About two years ago, we had to put my MIL in a nursing home- she had been

Most attorneys offer a free consultation. I think I'd try that first--you may learn all you need to know. If it were me, I'd leave the burden of proof to the collectors -- let THEM use their attorneys and find out that there are no hidden assets. It's not your responsibility to help them collect their debt. It sounds like you've done all you can do--writing to explain the situation. Don't let them harass you--there are laws against that, and let them know you're aware of those laws. I don't see the point in spending more money on bankruptcy proceedings. The end result is the same--they're not going to get their money. (you can probably tell, I don't have much sympathy for credit card companies). Hang in there.

Sherry

You need to contact both social security and your local council on ageing. You also need to be very clear about the fact that it is her debt, she is incompetent, and that she has no resources. This is largely on the credit card company, social security doesn't usually pay out enough for a person to meet the minimum income requirements for a card. Plus, by law they cannot garnishe social security checks, so most companies will not give a card to a person with no resources who's sole regular income is social security. If they were not paying attention to their money that is hardly your fault. They are clearly at the desperation stage if they are threatening you. They know they blew it and will probably not get their money unless they can con it out of you. Since it is not your debt, they can hardly smack your credit report with it. If they take you to court all you have to do is prove she is in a nursing home with medicaid and social security, and had no resources prior to her placement. Thus they probably will not take legal action. Power of attorney usually only allows you to manage her affairs, not require you to assume her debts. I would go on the offensive and contact somebody higher up the food chain at the card company as well. You can probably get social security, social services (medicaid), and the credit card company to start eating each other with minimal effort. It seems hardly worth the effort to file for bankruptcy on her behalf. It would make a resolution if all else fails. However your council on aging can probably advise you best on the legal tangles. If you have to go back to legal aide, be clear that your MIL is the one that needs a lawyer. It might work, though in most places legal fees are usually the responsability of the legal representative. Which is why they were looking at your income.

NightMist

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 03:57:22 GMT, "Sue Stringfellow" wrote:

Ugh! What a horrid situation to be in. You've had lots of good advice here. In addition, I'm just wondering if you have something like our Citizens Advice Buureaux?

coming out of lurk mode....

i don't know what state you are in, but have you contacted your county's office on aging? lots of times they are wonderful and helpful to deal with.

and no, from what i know, you are NOT responsible for her debts...but they will keep hassling you because they can....

betsey

Is the credit card in her name only or did you or your husband co-sign the application? If their is a co-signor, that individual is legally responsible for the debt unless there is proof that the charges were made fraudulently. Otherwise, you are not responsible for her debts. Have you notified the credit card company in writing and provided them some verifiable proof of her mental status?

Sue, we have a local "Office for the Aging" - an advocacy and support office with tons of resources. Maybe there s something like this close to you?

-Irene

One thing ocurred to me, as we ran into a similar situation a few yrs ago with my mil. It depends on a few things that I'm unsure of in your situation. Is your Mom still receiving ss checks in her bank account, or does everything go straight to the gov. when a person is in a nursing home on Medicaid? This also depends on how long you expect your mil to live (I'm sorry to even mention that). My mil used a credit card to buy a new washer and dryer, and during the transaction, they sold her some kind of insurance policy at the same time. Well, her experience is to pay a little bit every month, which unfortunately, when combined with the ins policy, didn't even cover the minimum, so after 7 yrs of paying 25.00 a month, mil's credit card bill had blossomed with finance charges from 300 something to 800.00 something. sheesh. We paid it off ourselves and she paid us 25.00 a month until it was paid off. I have no idea if this would even work for you, but thought I'd mention it. Musicmaker

Since the change in the bankrupcy laws, fewer attorneys do bankruptcy and even fewer give free consultations. Declaring bankruptcy is no longer an option for the middle class - only for the wealthy and large corporations.

As far as contacting legal aide, as far as I know, in most states, Legal Aide handles only criminal cases.

What you need to do is to contact a group that handles civil cases on a pro-bono basis. These are very often associated with law schools, so make a call to the nearest law school and ask if they have any law clinics that can help you.

L>Contact a bankruptcy lawyer.... in most cases the first visit and analysis >is free.

While not directly related to this, I think it's something to keep in mind.... Last night I caught part of a story on one of the 'news magazine' shows-"Sixty Minutes" or "20-20" or maybe "Nightline"?? It was reporting on a growing problem with large debt collection agencies who buy old debt from creditors and do whatever it takes to extract a profit from their transaction. Some have resorted to bullying-and it is common for them to try to extract money from folks who did not OWE the money to begin with. (They don't care WHO owes or who pays.) Since these folks have to go to court to try to clear their name, and since, if they lose they also have to pay legal expenses for the company, many just pay up, even though they owed nothing! If they don't show up in court, the judge automatically rules in favor of the debt collector. It's a win-win situation for the companies and lose-lose for the people who are being victimized. One woman refused to be bullied but it took her two years and the court fees to clear the debt! Not a good situation.

chipper

Betsey is right about this........they will if they can. One way to handle things is to write "REFUSED" on the face of any letters you get.......the P.O. will not deliver any more.......and to get the phone service that allows you to block calls from them.

Presto!! No more hassles.

My dad recently had the exact same problem with my grandmother. She is on Title 19 or whatever it is called, and the credit card companies are still trying to get payment for a few thousand dollars worth of charges from a few years ago. They were writing letters saying that they are going to take her to court, etc. My father simply wrote them a certified letter and said, "She is 95 years old, she is in a nursing home and on Titel 19. There are no assets of any type. Go ahead and take her to court if need to." I mean really, so what? If there is no money for them to get, there is no money. So dad called his lawyer and asked, and the lawyer said not to worry about it, if they want to take her to court, sure, they can get a judgement against her, but they'll never collect. And after my Dad wrote that letter, he has never heard anything else from the credit card company.

Sue,

A recent article I read (and I'm sorry, I can't site it) indicates that you are in no way responsible for your MIL's debts. Collection agencies don't give a rats about the law though, so they'll try to get it from you anyway. It is my understanding, they have no legal leg to stand on.

Call the Alzheimer's Disease Associaton for advice. AD is just AWFUL!!!!!! HUGS, PAT

Hi

It has been many years since I worked in collections, (ugh, yucky job), and I am sure that the laws have changed somewhat, but these are two points that I remember.

Do not, and I repeat do not, make any payment on her card. Even one penny. There is a statute of limitations on debts owed and that is seven (7) years from the date of that last documented payment on the debt. If you make even one penny of a payment, you start the clock all over again. After seven years, the debt is basically null and void, although they may still hound you.

That brings me to my second point. Write a letter, stating that (a) this is MIL's debt, (b) your guardianship started as of whatever date and the debt was accrued as of whatever previous date, (c) your guardianship over her daily affairs began on whatever date as ascribed by doctor's diagnosis and the court's ruling, (d) this guardianship is limited to you MIL's affairs from that date forward, (e) that further calls or letters to you will be considered a violation of the law and will be forwarded to the local district attorney and Better Business Bureau. It might not hurt to also state not to contact you MIL either since she has no legal standing to make decisions on her behalf due to your guardianship.

Be sure to keep a copy of all correspondence and if you really want to show them that you mean business, have one or two persons witness and sign and date the letter at the bottom. BE SURE TO SEND IT CERTIFIED, RETURN RECEIPT. Keep the receipt. This is part of your legal standing, notification and following the steps. You may also want to get a copy of the fine print of the credit card agreement and read through that just to know what other tricks the credit card company might want to try to pull. If you can find in there even one minor deviation from their agreement on their part, they have violated their own agreement and the legality of their agreement. That is in your favor to point out as well.

Hope this helps.

Steve in Alaska