The Elder Law Attorney I am working with advised me to have parents' mail forwarded to my home so that I don't miss any important docs (I live in a different state). I do not want to get all of the notices that will be sent for deliquent payments due. They will be on Medicaid. Should I send a letter to each explaining the situation? Thank you for your responses.
Once my dad passed away I called them all to inform them. One of them requested a copy of the death certificate, the rest of them just said that they'd notate the account. It took a month or so for the calls and statements to stop but they did and I never heard another word from any of them.
Do a generic letter to all creditors that as of XYZ date all correspondence is to go to them at the new address; mailing all USPO certified return registered mail to the new address too. basic certified RRR is about $ 7.00 a letter and really invaluable to have if debt collectors start getting ugly. It also shows you are doing your fiduciary duty as their DPOA.
It actually can be critically important to know if they are having debt written off. What the original creditor will likely do once they finally realize that the debt will not be repaid, is to write it off. This amount can get a 1099-C Cancellation of Debt and is taxable income. The 1099-C does not have to be done in the year last payment made either and can include the amount plus interest and fees. Really truly the amount on a 1099-C is fully taxable income and if not paid or dealt via a IRS form 982 can be a huge issue for their Medicaid compliance. Keep in mind that the OC will sell the debt to collections and they will be relentless in trying to get paid. Only the OC can do the 1099-C.
They are on Medicaid, so all their income is going to the NH except the smallish amount that is their personal needs trust account $. How is this being handled? Are their monthly checks all going to NH so NH trust account builds each month? OR are you writing a check for their required co-pay (their SOC share of cost) to the NH each month for your parents and so their personal needs allowance is building each month in their bank account? Whichever the case you need to make sure that it does NOT build to go over the maximum asset limit for Medicaid. For individual Medicaid it's 2K. I'm not sure what it is for a married couple.
Ask the elder law if the state does an annual renewal and what the compliance will be like. For my mom in TX, the annual renewal was a multi page form and required the last 3 months of bank statements and a lot of the same items (funeral policy and it's details; life insurance info, etc) that were submitted in the original Medicaid application. All due within 14 days of mailing for even more fun….. So if your parents state does this, keep a binder going so you can easily get this done.
Collectors are aggressive, without mercy, and skirt the edges of legality, especially if the debts are assigned to offshore collection agencies with staff that don't have knowledge of US laws.
I'm not aware of any that hassled people in person but I wouldn't put it past them.
I would also gradually review the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act so you're aware of what's allowed and what's not, although the remedies available to harassed individuals are nominal.
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-text
Section 806 addresses abuses, and if the debt collectors crawl out of their holes in the woodwork, there's a good chance some of these abuses will occur if they try to recover any funds from you or your parents.
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-text#806
Scroll down a bit farther and familiarize yourself with Sec. 809(b). It's a very important one to protect people from harassment, and in my experience it's one debt collectors ignore.
I recently had to get aggressive with an outfit that was harassing my father for an alleged debt which had already been addressed under the FDCPA. Despite the no liability letter I sent, someone hired a second agency a few years later and started pestering Dad.
WindyRidge's warnings should be taken not as potential actions, but likely actions, so protect yourself.
I also wouldn't answer the phone if you get any "unknown caller", "name not found", or toll free calls (I assume you have caller ID). Let them go to voice mail; if they don't leave a message. use Google to search the number. Sometimes you can back trace it to a collection agency.
I would also keep a running list of any contacts from them as I can almost guarantee that the restrictions on calling will be violated.
And don't tell them where your parents are!! Big NO NO as they'll harass your parents.
Good luck.
Funny story - sort of sick-funny if you think about it too hard - my mom used to buy Omaha Steaks stuff everything from the high fat meat cuts to the gooey desserts, diabetes and clogged arteries be damned. And she added me to their mailing list on several occasions, and they'd figure out I would not be buying a darn thing from them after a few months of ignoring their "Special Offer!" sales flyers. Well, I got catalogs in Mom's name for about two years - at first I was nice enough to send one or two back marked "deceased" - after all I guess they had every reason to know they'd helped kill off one of their better customers, right? - but that didn't stop them. So I made a little ritual of hand-shredding them for the recycling bin and thinking good thoughts about their money they were wasting by sending them all the time. And not totally wasted - the US Post office can always use the business, I guess. That smarmy, flattering advertising was just the kind of crap my parents fell for - complimenting their good taste and appreciating the finer things in life and all that rot and it was pretty satisfying for as long as it went on. But it finally stopped. And I got some things from my dad's old fraternity too - they got a donation or two and I found out he is considered a member of the "Chapter Eternal" and won't be forgotten.
Its a bittersweet business taking care of all that stuff, it really is - and it sounds lame, but when I did have to call someone, they almost always said, "first, I am sorry for your loss" and it was a heartfelt kindness to hear that a few times more.