serious Question about Elderly Parent

[dianemarie]

hello all,
I am new to this forum...I have a very serious question concerning my elderly mother who is in a nursing home.
She has NO assests at all except for her SS check...Her check goes DIRECTLY to the mursing home. This is my question:
She has 4 credit cards that since she has been in the nursing home , my sister and I have been paying these credit cards for her. Recently I got my hours cuts and can no longer afford to pay her Cards..My question is, Can I file bankruptcy for her (I have power of attorney) ....I know she is JUDGEMENT PROOF ...but I also know how awful collectors can be and would not want her put thru any harassment. Her total CC debt is about $17,000 made when she was in good health, before a stroke. I have NEVER agreed with any of the card companies to pay her cards and I am NOT on any of her cards as a authorized user...I simply just took over the payments on them on my own, I usually send a money order to them.
Please help me, I have no answers and I really need some information before I go to an attorney. Thank you all in advance!
Diane Marie

[HHM]

I suppose it would depend on how broad the POA is. And really, only an attorney can answer that question.

The only problem is, the BK code puts certain responsibilities and duties on the debtor and I am not 100% sure they can all be handled through a POA (but they probably can).

Given your mom's age and condition, there may be other options and special programs available to help her with this aside from filing BK. Try exploring the AARP's website first.

[Minnymouth]

The credit card companies would have a hard time collecting any of this, but be aware that if she has ANY insurance policies payable after her death, they can go after those.......especially if they are payable to her "estate only".....

Yes you need to to discuss this with an attorney and possibly Legal Aid in your area may be able to help you with this matter since she is confined to a nursing home and all her monies goes to the nursing home.....

Now if she owns any assets, property, the credit card companies can also go after this.

Hopefully, and MAKE SURE, that you as of POA HAVE NOT USED THESE CARDS since she has been confined to the nursing home. (by signing her name and then yours as POA)...... this could come back to haunt you!!!

Keep us posted, but there's really no way they can collect on those credit cards - they'll end up having the "write them off"......

Been there - done that!!!

[GoingDown]

hello all,
I am new to this forum...I have a very serious question concerning my elderly mother who is in a nursing home.
She has NO assests at all except for her SS check...Her check goes DIRECTLY to the mursing home. This is my question:
She has 4 credit cards that since she has been in the nursing home , my sister and I have been paying these credit cards for her. Recently I got my hours cuts and can no longer afford to pay her Cards..My question is, Can I file bankruptcy for her (I have power of attorney) ....I know she is JUDGEMENT PROOF ...but I also know how awful collectors can be and would not want her put thru any harassment. Her total CC debt is about $17,000 made when she was in good health, before a stroke. I have NEVER agreed with any of the card companies to pay her cards and I am NOT on any of her cards as a authorized user...I simply just took over the payments on them on my own, I usually send a money order to them.
Please help me, I have no answers and I really need some information before I go to an attorney. Thank you all in advance!
Diane Marie

I'm glad you said this part. Never send them a check from your personal checking account. This is not your debt, but corrupt collection agencies won't care-- once they got your checking account information, they could drain it.

I have a relative in a very similar situation. She has absolutely no assets at all, and her only income is a very small monthly check from Social Security, which is now paid directly to her nursing home to pay her "Share Of Cost" under the Arizona version of Medicaid. She has several charged off credit cards, and they have tried to send her notices in the mail and call her, but the nursing home deflects all of it away from her. The nursing home forwards all of her mail to her daughter, who has power of attorney for her. And when calls come in, they log the calls, and send her daughter information about who called.

They used to call quite a bit, but now that they know she lives in a nursing home and doesn't have anything to take, the creditors seem to have given up on her. You have to remember that they want to get paid, and if they are spinning their wheels on someone who obviously has no ability to ever pay them back, then they tend to move on to the next debtor on their list.