No. Adult children are not legally responsible for their parents debts including medical expenses.
Some states have filial responsibility laws that let creditors turn to adult children for payment of their parents' health care costs. Filial responsibility laws need to be triggered before going into effect, and enforcement is rare. Collectors may still pursue adult children for their parents' unpaid medical bills.
Normally, if you're 18 or older, you're considered the responsible party, even if you're insured under your parents' policy, Gundling said: Generally, parents would be responsible for their adult child's debts only if they had signed an agreement with a medical provider to cover them.
In general, children are not responsible for their parents' debts. Debt is typically tied to the individual who incurred it, and creditors usually cannot pursue a child for a parent's debts after the parent passes away or if they are unable to pay. However, there are some exceptions and nuances to consider:
In most cases, the deceased person's estate is responsible for paying any debt left behind, including medical bills. If there's not enough money in the estate, family members still generally aren't responsible for covering a loved one's medical debt after death — although there are some exceptions.
This is one of the duties that you have, and debts often need to be paid before the remaining assets can be passed on to the beneficiaries. But debt is not inherited like assets are, so you and the other beneficiaries do not have to pay personally.
“Normally, if you're 18 or older, you're considered the responsible party, even if you're insured under your parents' policy,” Gundling said.
If you have existing unpaid medical bills, and go into a nursing home and receive Medicaid, the program may allow you to use some or all of your current monthly income to pay the old bills, rather than just to be paid over to the nursing home, providing you still owe these old medical bills and you meet a few other ...
Under the law, the requirement to make adult coverage available applies only until the date that the child turns 26.
The states that have such laws on the books are Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, ...
Most healthcare providers do not report to the three nationwide credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), which means most medical debt billed directly by physicians, hospitals or other healthcare providers is not typically included on credit reports and does not generally factor into credit scores.
Other states, such as California and Texas, prohibit Estate Recovery after the surviving spouse dies. The only exception is if the surviving spouse was also a Medicaid recipient.
The best way to avoid taking on the debts of a parent or other relative is to administer the estate properly BEFORE distributing the estate to beneficiaries. Put plainly, that means that any money owed to creditors should be dealt with FIRST before giving out any money/property to anyone inheriting.
The short answer is yes, it is possible to lose your home over unpaid medical bills though the doctor or hospital would have to be willing to go to a lot of effort to make that happen. Medical debt is classified as unsecured debt. This means that your debt isn't tied to any collateral.
There are variances in who can be held liable and when, in what scenarios, penalties, and the manner in which nursing care facilities can pursue repayment. The bottom line, however, is that most states will rule that adult children have a duty to provide reasonable care and support for their parents.
Nursing homes do not take assets from people who move into them. But nursing care can be expensive, and paying the costs can require spending your income, drawing from savings, and even liquidating assets. Neither the nursing home nor the government will seize your home to cover expenses while you are living in care.
Filial responsibility laws, also known as filial support laws, are legal statutes that require adult children to financially support their parents if they are unable to do so themselves. In California, these laws are outlined in Family Code Section 4400.
The Duration of Parents' Legal Obligations: The Basics
In most states, parental obligations typically end when a child reaches the age of majority, 18 years old. But, check the laws of your state, as the age of majority can be different from one state to the next.
If you are survived by a spouse, a child under age 21 or a blind or disabled child of any age, Medicaid can't pursue the repayments at all. Community property states: The nine community property states are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Minors under the age of 18 are not able to enter legally-enforceable contracts. What that means is that if your child is somehow able to take out a loan by himself, he cannot be pursued by a debt collector for failing to pay it back because there was never a legal agreement to repay the debt in the first place.
In most cases, the decedent's estate is responsible for paying off any debt left behind. This includes your parent's medical bills. However, if there is not enough money left in the estate to cover unpaid bills, the debt typically goes uncollected, explains Credit Karma.
Do you inherit your parents' debt? If a parent dies, their debt doesn't necessarily transfer to their surviving spouse or children. The person's estate—the property they owned—is responsible for their remaining debt.
Generally, beneficiaries are not personally responsible for the debts of the deceased individual. Their liability is limited to the value of the assets they inherit. In other words, they are not required to use their own funds to pay off the deceased person's debts.