Follow
Share

Her accounts have been closed for over a year now. Are we obligated to pay this bill?

Find Care & Housing
I would just send the bill back marked owner deceased, estate closed.

Theyvcant ding a dead person’s credit.
Helpful Answer (4)
Reply to PeggySue2020
Report

I agree with Peggy.
More, I would say "Deceased __________(date). No estate."
Saying "no estate" is stronger than saying it is "closed". Closed means they COULD attempt to go after beneficiaries and etc. Saying no estate often indicates she/he died destitute. But honestly, there IS no estate now. It is distributed.
This may go on to collections with threats of dire consequences such as you are heading to the 10th circle of hades, but unless this is many 1,000s of dollars it is unlikely you will hear much from them.
Helpful Answer (4)
Reply to AlvaDeer
Report

You're not obligated to pay your deceased parent's hospital bill. at least not in Georgia. I made the mistakes of paying much of the outstanding bills left by my parents, thinking I had a "moral obligation" to do so. Wrong. Doing this caused me significant and unwarranted financial strain.
Helpful Answer (3)
Reply to kcBlackstone
Report

We had this happen with a local Hospital's billing department. They took 2 years to send out the first bill. I keep any Medicare and supplimental statements I have that are not match upbwith a bill. If I don't get a bill I call. This one was for $23 so overlooked. Researching my checkbook showed I never paid it so I did. But just think of the money theyvdid not recover because of deaths.

In my State Probate cannot be closed for 8 months just so bills have time to show up. I would contact them by phone and tell them that Mom is deseased and her estate has been Probated and closed.

No you are not responsible. There is no reason why it took this long to get an invoice. They have accounts who look their receivables at the end of the year and should have caught an unpaid balance.
Helpful Answer (2)
Reply to JoAnn29
Report

Every time I called someone after dad passed who had sent a bill, when I told them he was dead, they wrote it off. Just make the call and see what they say.
Helpful Answer (1)
Reply to graygrammie
Report
Southernwaver May 30, 2024
Don’t call.

send back deceased return to sender
(2)
Report
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter