Need VA attorney recommendation: Company suing DH for FIL's debt

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP from this thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/218366.page . My FIL passed away a couple months ago but not before exhausting his assets. A company providing services to him has filed suit against DH for debt owed them by my FIL. I'm looking for an attorney in Virginia that can assist us. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Was FIL's will probabted? Were there any assests? If Yes and Yes, they should have had ample opportunity to file during probate to recover debt. If they failed to do so and your DH inherited assests, he should be protected as that is what probate is held for in the first place. And, if there were no assets and DH was not a co-signor or guarantor of his dad's financial affairs then you should be able to get the case dismissed fairly easily. You should consult an attorney in VA (I am not a VA bar member - just offering my initial thoughts on this) but it sounds like a frivolous lawsuit.

[Anonymous]

I remember you OP. So sorry that your FIL passed and exhausted all of his finances.

Don't know why the company would contact or sue you. If you were not paying for his care or assumed any liability for his bills I have no idea why they would even try to purse you. No recommendation, but I hope you get through this painlessly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was FIL's will probabted? Were there any assests? If Yes and Yes, they should have had ample opportunity to file during probate to recover debt. If they failed to do so and your DH inherited assests, he should be protected as that is what probate is held for in the first place. And, if there were no assets and DH was not a co-signor or guarantor of his dad's financial affairs then you should be able to get the case dismissed fairly easily. You should consult an attorney in VA (I am not a VA bar member - just offering my initial thoughts on this) but it sounds like a frivolous lawsuit.

This. If there was anything left in the estate they have the right to sue to get paid back, but as long as your DH did not cosign anything and he didn't get an inheritance, no worries.

[Anonymous]

Also fyi in case this applies - life insurance proceeds are normally not subject to creditor claims, or taxes, or probate. There are exceptions, for example if the person's estate was named as the beneficiary then it's subject to probate.

[Anonymous]

When my father died he had nothing. Nothing but debt. I cleaned out his apartment, cancelled all of his utilities and credit cards I could find, called the car loan company to come pick up his car and told the creditors who kept calling to F-off. I sent off copies of his death certificate to all of them and eventually they just left me alone. I threatened to sue them if they kept calling. I kept track of their phone numbers and times/dates they called and threatened until they stopped.

It's a crappy situation to be in at a time that emotionally difficult, but I didn't have money for a lawyer and could barely afford to bury him so I was nice at first then told off the few that kept calling.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My FIL had a revokable trust and doesn't go through probate. His home was fully paid for but we took a home equity line out on to pay for his care. My DH signed the line of equity paperwork as POA and I co-signed on the loan in order for the loan to go through. The home equity loan would not have gone through had I not co-signed. My FIL had no life insurance and when we later tried to re-finance, we were unable to because there was no more equity left in the house. We currently have a tenant in the house because if we sold it today, we likely wouldn't get enough to pay off the home equity line. There certainly wouldn't be enough to pay what the company claims is owed. They've filed a warrant in debt against my DH. In the paperwork included in the warrant in debt, it's clear that my DH signed as POA and not as guarantor (he only signed in the space indicated for POA or signed his name with POA at the end).

[Anonymous]

OP, ouch, if you co-signed the loan, you are likely on the hook. that being said, no idea why they are suing DH and not you. Sounds like sloppy lawyering on their part.

[Anonymous]

I know this doesn't help OP, but just in case others who have family members who need care are reading this thread, I wanted to post. When someone runs out of assets, there are social service programs available to pay for care. If you are in this situation, contact Medicaid or a nursing home or assisted living program. Good luck OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, ouch, if you co-signed the loan, you are likely on the hook. that being said, no idea why they are suing DH and not you. Sounds like sloppy lawyering on their part.

OP again. The mortgage company isn't the one suing. We are current on the mortgage payments and will keep the house until such time as we can break even on its sale. The company suing my DH is a service company. I didn't sign any of the paperwork associated with the service company. DH did as POA for his father.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a specific lawyer to recommend but here is the VA Bar lawyer referral service info - they will locate the proper attorney (elder law attorney? creditor law attorney?) and get you a consult: http://www.vsb.org/vlrs/

I'm sorry for this difficult situation. I've dealt with some of these issues too and it is heartbreaking and draining.

[Anonymous]

OP here with an update. We consulted an attorney ($100 for a consult) who reviewed the service contract and the power of attorney (POA) that my DH held for his father. He couldn't understand how the service company could pursue DH since my FIL was the client, was the payor and my DH only signed under authority of the POA. We followed his advice, appeared for the initial court date, contested the charges and asked for a bill of particulars. He told us there was no need for an attorney to appear with us on this occasion since it would only result in a date the bill of particulars had to be provided, the date we had to respond and the trial date. After the judge set those, we passed a copy of the POA to the plaintiffs' attorney, hoping that he would recognize the wrong people were being sued. No such luck.

We received the bill of particulars today and the service company is asserting the agreement is with my DH. I don't understand why they continue to pursue my DH instead of my FIL's estate. It seems so obvious that the agreement is not with DH. Other than his signature and the field for POA, DH's name and address doesn't appear and all payments were made from my FIL's account. For the trial, we're going to have to hire an attorney and will incur significant cost that we shouldn't have to. The only way we can pay the attorney is to get a loan or take on credit card debt. My question for DCUM is can we countersue the service company for deliberately pursuing the wrong people? TIA.

[Anonymous]

This is not legal advice, of course, but based on what I"m hearing it looks like the service company is figuring that they can make it expensive enough for DH to defend that they can squeeze a settlement out of him/you.

What is the amount of their claim? As you know, unfortunately, it will cost $ to hire an attorney to defend against the claim, and they may be banking on that exceeding the claim to leverage a settlement.

This sounds like a case that could be ripe for summary judgment (no material facts in dispute), though it sounds like they are trying to gin up a scenario in which DH signed personally and not as only the POA for the FIL.

I'm sorry you're in this situation, it sucks and based on the limited facts I see it sounds like they may be using litigation as a negotiating tactic for a claim that may have no legal merit.

If so, shame on them and their counsel. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Whoa. I thought the rule was : he who dies with the most debt wins

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. I thought the rule was : he who dies with the most debt wins

Only if you're a shiftless "taker."