Joanne

part II, I contacted my daughter the lawyer-the order in which bills get paid is set in statute of the state. First paid is the funeral, then the cost of probating the state, the IRS, and down the list to unsecured loans. Medicare and your mother's health insurance should cover hospital and doctor bills. You do not pay. If the estate runs out of money it is insolvent, so you need to follow the order of payment set up by the state. Anything in your mother's name may have to be sold to pay the bills. Life insurance is payable to either the estate to pay bills, or a survivor-your sister. That money your sister gets is for your sister not the estate. Plus you know there is no money, but IRS taxes will have to be done for your mother. So that will be settled after the first of the year. As long as nobody else's name is on your mother's accounts, you are not responsible. Bill collectors will not be happy and tell you it is your resonsibility, but it is not. It is not a legal or moral obligation on your part to pay the bills. Good luck!

arimuse

if a parent had to sign over property/ money for service I think the estate owes the payback. If you did not co sign anything they are your parents bill and no one can force you to cover them. if there was no agreement between provider and the parent they may have to sue the estate if you do not want to settle with them -
If a collection agent calls and tries to get you to pay, and tells you you owe, and you tell them you will pay you just bought the bill. (if you make an agreement over the phone to pay any amt and it wasnt yours to pay you have now agreed to pay)
before you say or sign anything with/ for anyone talk to a lawyer, each state has its own rules on this

also, if your name is on a credit card or mortgage make sure you have the clause in place that states the debt at the time one of the persons dies is cancelled and the survivor does not owe. when my husband died the mortgage was foregiven and also, a cc I was trying to pay off (he had the most owed on it) had that clause and I pd most of it before I found the pepers that said the debt was gone! of course, they did not give back what I pd on it!!

LindaaJR

This is where a will would come in handy. I am pretty sure the bills of the deceased will have to be paid from the estate. I do not know if the insurance is considered part of the estate. That is a lawyer question or maybe check it out with registar of wills in your county or Google it. Try Suze Orman's web site and see i8f you can answer there. Good luck. Take care.
Linda
P S a lot of credit card accounts have an insurance that covers the balance.

OHSue

I do think that if your sister gets the home, no matter what the value, there will be some estate taxes that might need paid for that. And if the mobile home's value may be used to collect money owed. But before things get out of hand, get in touch with the folks the money is owed to, let them know your circumstances. Hospitals can write off portions of bills, they do it all the time. When my MIL moved to a nursing home we contacted all the folks she owed money to and made them an offer for a portion saying this was all she had and would no longer have an income, every single one of them, many doctors, two hospitals accepted our offer. I suppose in her circumstances we could have let her money dwindle away and let it go, but we felt obligated. When she passed she had no money so we took care of all funeral expenses out of our pocket, but she lived in a small town and it was much less than expected.

sewnsewer2

Yes, I can say this from personal experience. Just because you pass on, doesn't mean your bills will be forgiven. They still have to be paid. They don't care who pays them as long as they get paid.

When my mom passed 9 years ago the insurance company sent me a check and I paid her bills. I guess it depends on what state they live in, but that is what I did in FL.

wolfkitty

These are my thoughts on the subject!

Momsmurf

Good question. As some have mentioned, I think the estate would be responsible for paying those outstanding bills, which then means (at least in my way of thinking) that if I inherited the estate, I would have to pay them.
But I'm no lawyer...I do know that the beneficiaries have to pay the estate taxes (death tax) that comes when a parent dies and leaves things to heirs.

When my father died he had a number of small bills which I took upon myself to pay, not wanting to have his creditors end up thinking ill of my father - or his survivors.

MargeD

Probate laws differ from state to state. I would suggest you contact a probate lawyer to find out what laws would apply as far as bills, etc., whether or not there was a will and so forth. I worked as a legal secretary and dealt a little bit with probate, but I wouldn't begin to advise you, except to get an experienced probate attorney.

writerwomen

It would be wise to seek real legal help. The hospital etc can file for payment from what is in the insuurance and estate. They can walk away with it all if you're not prepared. Be sure there you are aware of all forms she had to sign. A number of long term care and some hospitals are getting elderly to provide until death care at no fee or additional fees and the estate becomes theirs as the pay off. Tihs includes everything. A friend recently went though this and they couldn't even get their hands on family photos until the hospital racked them clean.

madamekelly

When my husband passed, I was told that all money on hand was to be used to pay any debts, but that insurance was to be used for mine and the childrens needs. Life insurance is not usually part of the estate. Check with your state's attorney general.