Hospital Bills

by Terry
(Belleville Illinois)

My father passed away 3 1/2 years ago. I just recently recieved a bill from the hospital for 4,000. Am I responsible for the bill. He had insurance at the time of his death. It shouldnt take 3 1/2 years to get a bill.
Thank you for any information you can give me I live in Illinois.

Comments for Hospital Bills

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Mar 04, 2012
 Hospital Bills
by: Debtcollectionanswers

Terry:

Unless you signed paperwork at the hospital stating that you would be responsible for your father's medical bills, you are not legally obligated to pay them. After your father died, his estate
(a formal term for all of the assets he may have owned at the time of his death) should have gone through probate. During this legal process, any creditors your father may have owed money to were entitled to submit claims to the probate court asking to be paid. Then as many of those claims as possible would have been paid and if there was not enough money to pay all of them then those creditors that did not get paid would be out of luck unless some of your father's outstanding debts were joint debts or someone co-signed for them. In those instances, the creditors could look to whomever else was liable for the debts for payment.

It's not at all unusual these days for creditors (and collection agencies) to try to put pressure on the relatives of a deceased person to pay that person's outstanding debt. It sounds like this is what is happening to you. To learn more about this problem and your options for handling it go here:
deceased person’s debt FAQ.

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