POA Still liable for father's bills?

[Rasheeda]

What is the name of your state?MD.

 

[Ohiogal]

Is Father alive?

 

[Rasheeda]

What is the name of your state?MD.

My father died on 3/31/19. On 4/1/19, I spoke to the nursing home where he died to see how much he owed up to the time of his passing. They told me, and I paid it. Now, 4 months later, they have sent me a bill for almost $500. I am still paying for his funeral, because his previous nursing home told me to cash in his life insurance policies to help pay for his room and board. Am I still liable for this and other bills of his?

 

[Rasheeda]

So...do I have to pay this bill?

 

[Rasheeda]

Is Father alive?

Dad died on 3/31/19. I received a bill from nursing homes. Do I have to pay?

 

[Zigner]

Are you the guarantor? If not, then your father's estate should pay the bill.

I'm sorry for the passing of your father.

 

[Dandy Don]

Did your father own a home or have pension/retirement benefits from his place of employment or have other assets? If so, then those need to be handled and transferred to his heirs by having a probate done at the county courthouse. When probate is opened, the assets are assembled and outstanding bills are paid from whatever is in the estate. And the heirs get anything that is left over.

If there will be no estate because there are no assets, then you can simply send a letter (to the company that sent you the bill) to explain that there is no estate and the bill will unfortunately have to remain as unpaid.

Does the bill explain what services were given and the dates they were given? The bill is probably legitimate if they provided services to your father while he was still alive. If you have enough money to pay the bill, then please do so, but if it would cause a financial hardship, then you are NOT personally obligated to use your own money to pay it and they can not come after you to do so.

 

[Ohiogal]

A POA expires upon death. So as POA, you don't owe. As for whether your father owes, that remains to be seen.

 

[LdiJ]

Did your father own a home or have pension/retirement benefits from his place of employment or have other assets? If so, then those need to be handled and transferred to his heirs by having a probate done at the county courthouse. When probate is opened, the assets are assembled and outstanding bills are paid from whatever is in the estate. And the heirs get anything that is left over.

More often than not, a retirement account has a beneficiary and passes outside of any estate.

If there will be no estate because there are no assets, then you can simply send a letter (to the company that sent you the bill) to explain that there is no estate and the bill will unfortunately have to remain as unpaid.

Again, any assets that passed outside of the estate do not belong to the estate and do not have to be used to pay debts of the estate.

Does the bill explain what services were given and the dates they were given? The bill is probably legitimate if they provided services to your father while he was still alive. If you have enough money to pay the bill, then please do so, but if it would cause a financial hardship, then you are NOT personally obligated to use your own money to pay it and they can not come after you to do so.

If there is enough money in the estate to pay the bill the estate should pay it. He is not personally liable to pay the bill and should not set the prescedent of paying estate bills with his own money.