? about elderly person unable to pay debt

[LaneG]

My aunt is 69 years old, lives in South Carolina, and is no longer able to work due to disabillity. She is living on less than $600 per month Social Security, and lives in HUD housing for the elderly and disabled. She has no assets, no savings, no property. She has never married, has no children.

She has three outstanding debts from several years ago that she is unable to pay, and has collection agencies hounding her daily. Two of these were major credit cards, and the third was a personal loan through a bank.

What are the legal implications if she continues to not pay these debts? Could she be taken to court? There is nothing that could be taken from her, as she has nothing. Will the credit card companies eventually "write off" this debt? Any information would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

[capri142]

They say there are two times during your life when you can "get away" without paying 7your bills. 1. when you are very young and can live with the consequences of not paying your bills and have time to rebuild your credit 2. when you are very old and credit doesn't matter antmore. This does not take into account how ethical it might be.

Anyway, If you aunt has nothing and is not likely to have anything of value in the future. She can tell her creditors to pound sand and there is little that they can do about it. If she has a job or owns property then it is a different matter. The creditors, upon finding out that there is nothing to attach will probabl;y eventually "write off" the accounts and may turn them over to a 3rd party collector to try and harass your aunt into paying.

[BL]

If she has no assets , She should write each Creditor and tell them so , and tell them they should just write these debts off , as they will never be able to collect .

Hopefully they will , and quit calling her .

[Ladynred]

Next question - how long has it been since she's paid anything to the original creditors on these debts ?? If it has been 3 years or more, then the statute of limitations has passed for SC and she really can tell them to get stuffed with a cease and desist letter.

[maggie01510]

this is what i am facing,lang.my mother had a stroke in 2001.she always paid her debts on time.mom put me on the deed in 1997.i live with her and pay for mortgage, never been late either.she just had credit cards debts..i put the homestead act on feb2,2006.but it doesn't cover pior debts...i am just the representaive to her ss,income...i have taken her to court twice never saw a judge,just went into a little room and showed ,ca ,what income she had..649.00 ss monthy..they have never talked to her until january of this year were they ask her if i could talkfor her,,she said yes,thats the only time she has ever said a word to them..i wrote and talked to each creditor sent medical records..all but 2, lvnv and household will not let it go and why should they..they know she has a home...ca, put two excutions on the home one in 2005 and 2006.only one summons was served.found it in the bush beside the door.lol...was for household finance.i tried to shield her from this mess but i can't anymore..sat down with her in feb..and told her about these debts..she remembers alittle about them..waiting to hear from legel aid and see what they can do...sorry this is such along reply..but i have one question..can anyone explain..rule 5 of the supreme judicial court and..scj rule 1:18..she got a letter from the attorney on this..i read it but still don't understand it.....if no one replys to this,thats ok..felt good to tell the story.
ty all again...maggie

[Ladynred]

How old are these debts and what state are you in ?

rule 5 of the supreme judicial court and..scj rule 1:18

Can't really answer that without knowing what state you're in.

If you don't have one already, you need to get a durable power of attorney which will allow you to handle her affairs, including speaking for her in court. Talk to a lawyer because there are many types of POA's.

Unfortunately, with 2 liens aleady on the property it's too late for her to quit-claim the deed to you. How much money are we talking about here, what does she owe ?

[maggie01510]

sorry senior..i am in massachusetts...with all the fees added on mom owes about 15.000..i have put her name into legal aid..for bankruptcy.which i should have done way back but i couldn't work with her.so i just proctected her from debt collectors.working hard with her now to try to make her understand what we are facing..when she had the stroke in 2001 and was declared disable..she went into deep depression..after that the dam dog got killed chasing a cat..she was 7yr old lab who she loved i think more than me..lol..that really put her way deeper into depression..goes to the grave every day in the back yard.(.sad i know)but she is starting to show some improvement..need about another month with her which i have time before they take us into court again in april over the same matter..all i do is show what she makes..and that she didn't win the lottery..and has no other income except ss.i hope by than she can talk for herself...again we have never seen a judge..just go into a room with her and show the attorney her income..they seem to take us every 4 months now..i know the excution can stay for 20yrs she is 62 now..we love the home and will always stay here..the house is only worth 160,000..with mortage of 97,000.been here for 26yrs now..i am 43 single..but its my home too.
ty ,senior ,felt good to tell the story
maggie

[maggie01510]

again,senior,sorry,,,debts are from 1999 to aug 2001 when she had the stroke
ty,maggie

[Chien]

maggie01510 -
You're making things confusing. You have your own thread going and you've jumped into this older thread (from a poster from another state). Keep things within your thread or, if you have a new subject to discuss (like court rules), start a new thread.

If you'll do that, and explain a bit more about the rules that you don't understand (there are civil and criminal rules and Civil Rule file pertains to filing and service of papers(?)), you may get more coherent responses.

[Ladynred]

If they are calling her to court about every 4 months it sounds like sequential debtor's exams where they want her financial info. Every 4 months seems pretty excessive, it's not like her income is going to change given her disability. You can object to these serial debtor's exams and if I were in your shoes I would do it, I believe it's called "malicious prosecution" to keep dragging her to court for a debtor's exam where nothing is going to change.

Rule 5 has to do with Service and filing of pleadings: [url]http://www.massachusettslawyers.com/lawfirm/mcr_5.asp[/url]

SJC Rule 1:18 has to do with dispute resolution apparently: [url]http://www.mass.gov/courts/admin/legal/newadrbook.pdf[/url]
In reading that, it APPEARS to be an arbitration proceeding.

[maggie01510]

sorry.chien,i see what you mean,just excited to have found this site.
Ladynred,ty for the sites..lots of information i can use.
ty, again..maggie..gb

[Chien]

Thanks LNR -

I see that I typed "Civil Rule "file'" rather than the intended "5", but I was even more confused about what the attorney was trying to tell her.

In my state, a debtor exam can be conducted every 6 months, but you're right. If they're conducting multiple exams, at some expense and inconvenience, with little or nothing to show. It would be just as easy to exchange a questionnaire by mail, with a collateral agreement that an exam would be conducted only if the information could not be independently verified.

Then, again, maybe they just want to try to mediate some resolution. If there's nothing there, there's nothing there. It's so cumbersome and costly to sell real property that even considering that would surprise me, despite the equity.

And here I am carrying on this thread. Let's close it. You've given the OP the information she asked for.