Question Death of Spouse

[isabella19]

Boy how things change quickly! A few weeks ago I was starting a bk for my spouse, me & our small business. Within the last few weeks, my husband was admitted to the hospital for back pain & died 10 days later with metastatic cancer.
Now for round 2 with all of this massive debt. He had no life insurance or medical insurance. The phone calls have started this morning (collectors) & the hospital just called with good news. The said they would offer 40% off his 80k hosp bill if I pd in 30 days. I almost threw up.
Has anyone had any experience with debt after a spouse dies? Am I responsible for his debt? I know the things we jointly held together are mine but what about his personal unsecured cc bills? At this point I can use any help out there.Thanks

[nodollarsnomo]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm not sure of the the answer to your question, but it may depend on if you are in a community property state. His debt would be part of his estate. This question was asked last week on the Today Show. I would think that if you proceed with the BK you would just include his debt along with the medical bills.

There are others here that I know can help.

[HHM]

Holy crap, I am sorry to hear about the situation.

The first thing you can try is get the death certificate and send it to all the creditors and see if they go away. This process will probably take a couple months.

Odds are, unless you took special steps to make sure the debts were not joint debt, they probably are joint debt. Assuming you qualify for a chapter 7, and it otherwise makes sense (i.e. no non-exempt equity assets), a BK 7 will probably be the quickest, least hassle, and most cost effective option for dealing with the situation.

[isabella19]

Thanks for you replys. He had no life insurance (cancelled last month) & we really dont have any assets. Our homes worth more than its worth so there isnt any equity there either.
I think I will take your advise, send out the death cert & see what kind of response I get. I still plan oin doing a ch 7 for myself so it would probably be smart to include his debt also.
Thanks & any other replys would be welcomed!

[dingdong]

I am so, so, very sorry for your loss and having to deal with this when you are grieving.

Please post any and all questions you may have, we are all here to help, and no questions here are unimportant.

This is a very helpful community and we have all been in a financial bind, so don't feel bad at all to post anything, even if you just need some non BK "virtual" support.

We have some very efficient "Googlers" here so if you need a little research help, even if it isn't debt related, ask away.

It may help if you post the state you live in, so state laws can be checked if you need further help.

Take care and welcome.

DD

[isabella19]

I'm in Colorado. I have called this morning, Amex cc & Discover. They both told me to send a copy of the death cert & they will write off. "One bill at a time"...thanks again to all of you!

[keepmine]

My deepest sympathy for your sudden loss.

Were I you, I'd not file yet. As you stated, you have no assets. It's time for you to start to rebuild financially. Don't file untl you have a job offering health care benefits. You have to support yourself post bk. Yopu don't want to get sick or have an accident and end up with a large medical debt and already played the bk card.

[Flowers]

I think you can add this medical debt to the BK and it should all get discharged along with the debt you had when you began several months ago.

I am sorry for your loss and that you now have to go this alone. I hope family and friends have been a comfort to you.