Adult Son’s Medical Bills
I have a client with a son that is disabled. He is in his 50’s and has his own place and is receiving disability, but he cannot afford to pay his medical bills that keep accumulating. His mother, my client, has been trying to help him pay his rent and medical bills, but she only brings home around $1600 (she is retired and living off social security).
She has run up around $100,000 in credit card debt. Her son has over $30,000 in medical bills and credit card debt. My client knows wants to know if she can include her son’s medical bills in her bankruptcy. The only number the creditors have to get in touch with her son is her cell phone. She is tired of getting calls from creditors and wants to include her son’s medical bills to stop the creditors from calling.
I explained that even though she feels responsible for her son’s medical bills, legally she is not. She asked if she told the creditors she was responsible if she could then include them in her bankruptcy. Even if she took responsibility for the medical bills, her son is still responsible and the creditors can still try and collect from him. Also, she cannot take responsibility for another person’s debt in order to include them in a bankruptcy.
If multiple people are responsible for a debt, and only one person files bankruptcy, the non-filing person is still responsible for that debt. Just because one person gets a discharge that does not discharge everybody responsible for the debt.
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