http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnist..._must.html
Executive Summary: Man who is estranged from mom gets multi-thousand medical bill from her nursing home and his credit rating takes a hit.
This is yet another reason why Pennsylvania sucks. I can just imagine my response if my family pulled this crap on me. Let's just say firearms would be involved.
I wonder if this is true in other states. This is really scary!
Definitely fucked up. I have no better words!
Pretty scary. I am sure there is a way to avoid this one though.
Holy crap, what a scary law! The thing to do is aggressively lobby your State reps to overturn the law.
Meanwhile, way back in the dark ages when women were chattel, there was a law that allowed a man to disavow the debts incurred by her by publishing a notice in the newspaper that he would no longer be responsible for her debts. If that law exists in PA, I imagine it extends to anyone for whom one might legally be responsible for, financially. Seems to me, then, the thing to do is to disavow responsibility for the debts of all your relatives, one by one, by formal legal notice in the newspapers. Any PAer who is serious about this should probably consult a lawyer and see if this ancient law is as legally allowed as that other ancient law, and if that public notice would work, and how often you would have to publish to ensure you never become liable, say, 20 years down the line.
I hope Alabama doesn't have a law like that. My inlaws are ass deep in debt & I will be fucking damned if I have to deal with paying their stuff. I've already had Discover & ADT calling my house just looking for them.
I checked with an attorney friend who said he thinks this law could easily be thrown out with a decent defense attorney representing the client.
Another article I read says 30 states have similar laws on the books -- so, yes, chances are pretty good that your state may have such a law! I agree with Dunes -- a decent lawyer should be able to argue to overturn such a law, since most financial responsibility laws hinge on someone making some kind of written or otherwise provable PROMISE to pay for some other adult -- like, co-signing a car loan for your idiot brother-in-law with bad credit. An automatic assumption of owing for someone else's financial mistakes is what these finance laws have been designed to obliterate.
The only problem is you have to be able to afford a lawyer and if you get some jerkwad judge who thinks family is everything you're still screwed.