Bankruptcy or Fight In Court?

[artifactguy]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Illinois

Short Story: I placed my father in a nursing home and the director stated that I was not liable for any debts for his stay (there was an explicit paragraph in the contract that said as much) and had me "co-sign" on his behalf. It turns out that I signed as the Guarantor.

I would never have done such a stupid thing if they had told me the truth, but it is my word against theirs. The 10 year contract started in April 2002 and ends in 2012. The debt officially falls off my record in 2010, but liability remains until 2012.

I have fought the company representatives and tried to put the fear of God in them that they have unfair practices in duping people into signing contracts, but fact remains that I am right now, liable.

My father passed away in May 2003 and they have tried to get me to acknowledge debt via collection agencies, but it appears now, at the three-year mark, they have hired an attorney to represent them.

50% of me wants to fight it because they employed deceitful practices to get me to sign (this appears to be a disturbing trend in nursing homes) -- but the other half is contemplating just filing for a bankruptcy (Chapter 7). This will kill my credit record for 10 years, but get rid of this problem while I still have some time (October 16 last day to file for Chap 7) and allow me to move forward with my life.

If I fight and lose, I will owe the money, owe the law firm and not have any options for bankruptcy. It is a big risk, but I have been contemplating it for three years based on principle.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide and for reading my story.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Illinois

Short Story: I placed my father in a nursing home and the director stated that I was not liable for any debts for his stay (there was an explicit paragraph in the contract that said as much) and had me "co-sign" on his behalf. It turns out that I signed as the Guarantor.

I would never have done such a stupid thing if they had told me the truth, but it is my word against theirs. The 10 year contract started in April 2002 and ends in 2012. The debt officially falls off my record in 2010, but liability remains until 2012.

I have fought the company representatives and tried to put the fear of God in them that they have unfair practices in duping people into signing contracts, but fact remains that I am right now, liable.

My father passed away in May 2003 and they have tried to get me to acknowledge debt via collection agencies, but it appears now, at the three-year mark, they have hired an attorney to represent them.

50% of me wants to fight it because they employed deceitful practices to get me to sign (this appears to be a disturbing trend in nursing homes) -- but the other half is contemplating just filing for a bankruptcy (Chapter 7). This will kill my credit record for 10 years, but get rid of this problem while I still have some time (October 16 last day to file for Chap 7) and allow me to move forward with my life.

If I fight and lose, I will owe the money, owe the law firm and not have any options for bankruptcy. It is a big risk, but I have been contemplating it for three years based on principle.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide and for reading my story.

File BK. You'll never be able to prove that you were told something different from the signed contract, and most likely the courts won't even let you bring up the fact that you have an oral agreement different from the written contract -- that's called "parol evidence" and is generally inadmissible in court. Since you can't win, there really is no point in trying to fight it.

 

[artifactguy]

thanks very much for your advice. Much appreciated. DC in Illinois