My dad died 4 years ago. When he died we sent the nursing home the remainder of his bank account which was around 15k. The woman assured me they would have to write off the rest. Now. 4 years after his death they send me a bill for 34 thousand dollars! He has nothing. The house was sold . They received all his final assets! His life insurance! Everything ! I'm just afraid because I signed the paperwork for the nursing home as his POA. But, I'm not the executor of the estate. My brother is. I'm in illinois so not sure what my rights are.
Is this bill from the NH itself or from a collection agency?
I would not communicate with them except to tell them that the bill has been sent to the executor of the principal's estate.
Be aware that this may be a scam.
The house WAS his final assets and that is his estate.
His estate goes to pay his bills, not be inherited by family.
This is the work of the executor.
Your brother.
I am confused in that you say they already GOT his insurance, the proceeds of the sale of the house and everything else. If that is so, then no one owes anything.
I can't know what you signed when your parent was in a nursing home but I must assume that you did not sign that you were the responsible party to pay.
There is also a statute on bills, how long they can stand, when they become dead paper and are sold for pennies on the dollar to bill collectors. It is unclear to me whether your bills are coming from a bill collector or from the home.
I would send this bill to the executor. As far as any calls or letters to you you simply say that the person is dead and has no estate (IF THIS IS TRUE). However, as brother was executor and the estate should have been well settled after four years, I can't know if there was an estate or there was not, and that is up to him to figure out. So you could also say that you have forwarded their bill to the executor of mother's estate and their contacts should be with that person from now on. Because HE can then say "Deceased; no estate".
The problem I can see here only occurs IF a home was sold and the assets of said home given to beneficiaries instead of being paid on bills owed by your deceased parent. I can't know any of the facts about any of that.
And if you signed as you should have (your name "as POA" you haven't a problem in the world. POAs are not responsible for the bills of people they serve as POA.
LIke Barb said, this could be a scam. Tread carefully!
Your brother needs to prove to the Nursing home that he sent every penny Dad had to them. A copy of his bank acct showing the check being written for 15k. Proof that his policy was cashed and check written. The paperwork for the sale of the house showing they received the proceeds. Neither u or brother are responsible for the debt. Check ur State laws and see how long they give for someone to collect a debt. Really, if this is the first ever bill, its a little late. They may just be fishing.
https://blog.massmutual.com/planning/nursing-home-bills
Are you liable for your parent’s nursing home bills? | MassMutual
WebApr 10, 2023 · In the past, some nursing home facilities required a family member to co-sign for their parent as a condition of admission, making them legally responsible for future bills. That’s no longer allowed, Smetanka said, noting new federal regulations were passed in October 2016 that prohibit nursing homes ................"
So in researching this a bit more, there are some new laws pertaining to this asking a third party to pay nursing home bills.
If you tell us WHO this letter came from (nursing home itself? Medicaid? Attorney? Collection agency") then perhaps we can help a bit more. But do some online research for your state. YOU are in no way responsible for this bill just because you signed as POA. As to whether your Mom's estate was or not? That would be a problem for your Bro as executor, and after all this time, I do believe his Trust and Estate Attorney will tell him no. Estates are distrubuted before four years time in almost all instances where there isn't a lot of money.
They are just trying to recover from his estate. If there is nothing left you can tell them that. If they don’t believe you can they can sue his estate but it won’t come to that.