America’s Dead Souls
theparisreview.org
America’s Dead Souls
1–10 of 85 posts
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#2If this happens to you:
1) The creditors are full of shit. Don't accept the estate, don't acknowledge that you owe any debt, and you don't owe them a damn thing. If no-one accepts it, they're simply screwed. They'll try to trick you into paying anyway, because they are, in fact, monsters, but they're full of shit.
2) Look up (online) the correct magic words to tell the creditors to go fuck themselves, or else face charges. They'll stop. On the off chance they don't, a call of complaint to your representative(s) or to the correct state agency will do the trick.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#3Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts.
In this case the State likely got the house to pay back Medicaid via “Medicaid Recovery”.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#4If this happens to you: 1) The creditors are full of shit. Don't accept the estate, don't acknowledge that you owe any debt, and you don't owe them a damn thing. If no-one accepts it, they're simply screwed. They'll try to trick you into paying anyway, because they are, in fact, monsters, but they're full of shit. 2) Look up (online) the correct magic words to tell the creditors to go fuck themselves, or else face ch…
Yeah this article is a bit dramatic. As evil as the rich people who try to recover debts may be, children are not legally responsible for their parent's debts.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#5Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts. In this case the State likely got the house to pay back Medicaid via “Medicaid Recovery”.
> Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts.
They sometimes do go after the family, hoping to trick them into paying. I'm sure they get a lot of folks to pay, too.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#6Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts. In this case the State likely got the house to pay back Medicaid via “Medicaid Recovery”.
> Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts. They sometimes do go after the family, hoping to trick them into paying. I'm sure they get a lot of folks to pay, too.
> hoping to trick them into paying.
That sounds like fraud. Can the families not sue afterwards to get the money they paid back, with damages, on the grounds they were victims of fraud?
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#7If this happens to you: 1) The creditors are full of shit. Don't accept the estate, don't acknowledge that you owe any debt, and you don't owe them a damn thing. If no-one accepts it, they're simply screwed. They'll try to trick you into paying anyway, because they are, in fact, monsters, but they're full of shit. 2) Look up (online) the correct magic words to tell the creditors to go fuck themselves, or else face ch…
Yeah this article is a bit dramatic. As evil as the rich people who try to recover debts may be, children are not legally responsible for their parent's debts.
Real life can be very dramatic and it doesn't make it less true to the people involved. Many people don't know to question the debtors, get overwhelmed, get bullied, and don't have the energy or resources to fight the onslaught of aggressive communications and serious looking mail they receive from these predators.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Creditors can only go after the assets of the estate. One does not inherit debts. They sometimes do go after the family, hoping to trick them into paying. I'm sure they get a lot of folks to pay, too.
> hoping to trick them into paying. That sounds like fraud. Can the families not sue afterwards to get the money they paid back, with damages, on the grounds they were victims of fraud?
I'd assume that, as long as they're careful about how they pressure you, it's not fraud if you decide to pay. AFAIK they're under no obligation to volunteer that you don't have to pay them anything, or to otherwise educate you about the fact that they're (in fact) just begging for money they're not owed, and hoping you'll give it to them. But if they ask you (the aggrieved, in the middle of hosting family and trying to plan a funeral and figuring out how to pay all the bills you actually do need to, as a result of all this) to accept this debt and you say you do, and then they help you work out a very convenient and gracious payment plan for this debt you unthinkingly accepted because you're not a damn lawyer and you're kinda stressed out and debt collectors are scary and now it's on auto-draft for the next 18 months, well, that's above-board.
I've known people who've been on the receiving end of those calls, so they definitely happen, and must be profitable, one way or another.
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#9If this happens to you: 1) The creditors are full of shit. Don't accept the estate, don't acknowledge that you owe any debt, and you don't owe them a damn thing. If no-one accepts it, they're simply screwed. They'll try to trick you into paying anyway, because they are, in fact, monsters, but they're full of shit. 2) Look up (online) the correct magic words to tell the creditors to go fuck themselves, or else face ch…
One notable, and very underreported exception, is Pennsylvania's filial responsibility law[1]. In Pennsylvania, if a resident of a nursing home is indigent, the liability falls statutorily on their family, who the home is free to sue and secure a judgement. This may not have gotten much attention due to uncommon use, but it's very real, and it's been upheld by the PA State Supreme Court. A handful of children of seniors have been bankrupted by filial responsibility judgements.
[1]: https://www.paelderlaw.net/pennsylvanias-filial-support-law-...
Re: America’s Dead Souls
#10I think it is important to raise awareness about Filial Responsibility Laws which hold children accountable for the debts of parents. More than half of US state have laws on the books which enable debt holders to go after assets outside of the deceased's estate.
It is becoming increasingly common for nursing homes to bring suits against adult children of their residents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_responsibility_laws#Sta...