Wife passed away, ambulance bills in her name..

[dfrandin]

What is the name of your state?Nevada

My wife passed away from Covid-19 in April. I recieved two ambulance bills, each for $225, this being the copay from her Medicare Suppliment insurance.
Even though the bills are addressed to my wife, their customer service tells me I'm now responsible for them. Is this true? and if I don't pay them, can they
legally ding MY credit report?

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state?Nevada

My wife passed away from Covid-19 in April. I recieved two ambulance bills, each for $225, this being the copay from her Medicare Suppliment insurance.
Even though the bills are addressed to my wife, their customer service tells me I'm now responsible for them. Is this true? and if I don't pay them, can they
legally ding MY credit report?

I am so sorry for your loss.
@Taxing Matters @Ohiogal are attorneys that hopefully will be along soon to assist you.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?Nevada

My wife passed away from Covid-19 in April. I recieved two ambulance bills, each for $225, this being the copay from her Medicare Suppliment insurance.
Even though the bills are addressed to my wife, their customer service tells me I'm now responsible for them. Is this true? and if I don't pay them, can they
legally ding MY credit report?

Nevada is a community property state, so yes, you can be held responsible to pay your wife's medical bills. In addition to that her estate would be responsible to pay her medical bills as well before distributing anything to beneficiaries. Therefore if there was anything that did not pass to you outside of her estate, you could be held responsible if you were the executor of her estate.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the name of your state?Nevada

My wife passed away from Covid-19 in April. I recieved two ambulance bills, each for $225, this being the copay from her Medicare Suppliment insurance.
Even though the bills are addressed to my wife, their customer service tells me I'm now responsible for them. Is this true? and if I don't pay them, can they legally ding MY credit report?

Nevada is a community property state. Under community property, each spouse owns a share of all community assets and income and each spouse owes a share of the community debt. Most assets, income, and debts of either spouse acquired during marriage will be community property/debts. So the ambulance bills are almost certainly community debts, of which you would be liable for half.

Your wife's estate would be liable for at least the other half, since that half is her share of community debt. So her estate would need to pay that prior to distributing any assets to you (or anyone else). So to the extent you'll get estate assets from her, this will need to be paid first.

Finally, under Nevada law, you are responsible for providing necessary care (food, shelter, clothes, medical care, etc) to your spouse when your spouse does not have sufficient assets on her own to pay for it and there are insufficient community assets for her to pay it. An ambulance bill will almost certainly be considered necessary care for which you'd be liable if she didn't have the ability to pay for it.

So putting that altogether, you likely are going to end up being responsible for paying all of it in the end. The ambulance company could ding your credit for at least your half of the community debt for this if it wasn't paid.

 

[dfrandin]

Thank you...

 

[NeilTheCop]

Your wife just died and your top priority seems to be maintaining your credit.
You need professional help, and not from an attorney.

 

[Zigner]

Your wife just died and your top priority seems to be maintaining your credit.
You need professional help, and not from an attorney.

Your comment is uncalled for. He's responding to a threat. Should he simply ignore the matter until he's grieved an appropriate amount of time?

 

[Just Blue]

Your wife just died and your top priority seems to be maintaining your credit.
You need professional help, and not from an attorney.

When my father died unexpectedly, my mother still sat down once a week and paid household bills and attended the daily necessary things one must do...should I be concerned about my mom's mental health or believe that she didn't care about the man she was married to for 40 years because she didn't curl up in a griefball and let her financial life fall apart?

You really owe dfrandin a big apology.

 

[zddoodah]

Your wife just died and your top priority seems to be maintaining your credit.
You need professional help, and not from an attorney.

Right back atcha. This might be the biggest a-hole post I've seen on one of these boards in the nearly 20 years I've been posting on them. At a minimum it's top 10.

 

[NeilTheCop]

I do apologize.
For a moment I forgot I was no longer in England, but in the USA where money takes precedent over everything else.

 

[quincy]

I do apologize.
For a moment I forgot I was no longer in England, but in the USA where money takes precedent over everything else.

Wrong response, Neil.

 

[Just Blue]

I do apologize.
For a moment I forgot I was no longer in England, but in the USA where money takes precedent over everything else.

That's obnoxious...and you should be ashamed. In England do the fairies come 'round and take care of business so people can properly grieve? No? Then I guess the English just curl up and let the law suits pile up.

 

[Just Blue]

Wrong response, Neil.

Beyond wrong...repulsive.

 

[quincy]

Beyond wrong...repulsive.

I think Neil might have been trying to be funny. If so, his humor fell flat.

dfrandin might want to check his state’s Covid-19 information. Many medical bills that are Covid-19-related are being excused. I suggest he looks into this before paying the ambulance bills.

 

[Just Blue]

I think Neil might have been trying to be funny. If so, his humor fell flat.

dfrandin might want to check his state’s Covid-19 information. Many medical bills that are Covid-19-related are being excused. I suggest he looks into this before paying the ambulance bills.

Neil's comment didn't seem, to me, like he was trying to be funny.