Mom is disabled, Nursing home is taking her ss checks, and she cannot pay her credit

[tlamm]

What is the name of your state? New York

My mom had a stroke a few years ago. She is now totally disabled and in a nursing home, and they are taking her entire ss check, so she is unable to pay her credit card debt. She has no other source of income- and I believe she will need to go bankrupt but do not know the 1st thing about how to help her. Also, if there is a fee involved, she wont even be able to obtain the bankcrupcy. Has anyone else ran accross this problem before? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
TLamm

[SleeplessInMI]

I'm not positive but I thought I read somewhere that funds from SS are not allowed to be garnished for debts owed. If that is true and she has no other assets the creditors can go after then she most likely won't even get sued... The creditors can make things hard on her though with phone calls, threatening letters, etc... That alone could be enough to drive a person nuts and want to do something to get rid of the debt.

I'm not an attorney but I do recommend talking to one to get more accurate answers

[bigun]

If your mother has no assets, there is no need to file bk.
Send a letter to her creditors advising them of the situation.

[tlamm]

Thank you all for your posts. Is there any specific format the letters should be in?
Regards,
TLamm

[Ladynred]

No, just explain that your mother is in a nursing home and her only income is SS, all of which goes to pay the nursing home bills. She has no income any creditor can touch and no assets and her disability isn't going to improve. You don't need to say much more other than to say that she is completely unable to ever pay on the debts again.

Just be prepared for some collector to try to get YOU or some other family member to pay her bills - and they have ZERO liability for her debts.