QUESTION
What happens to my moms estate because of her medical debt?
Asked on Jul 10th, 2013 on Estate Litigation - New York
More details to this question:
My mom passed away recentely, I am an only child. Her will leaves me her apartment which has a mortgage on it. There is about 21 years left to pay on the mortgage. The problem is she also has a lot of medical debt from when she was sick. If I take on this mortgage and continue to make payments, can the medical debt come after the house? The apartment is worth about $400,000 but still has a 21 year mortgage left on it (9 years have been paid). I don't see why the medical debt can come after this apartment seeing as they couldn't even do anything to save my mom at these hospitals. Also, do I have to file the will in probate (there are no contestants)? The state in question is New York. I would hire a lawyer for all this but they charge thousands of dollars for this and the only thing my mom left me was the house, no money. I can't afford to seek counsel for this. Thank you for your time.
1 ANSWER
1 Award
You should not be penny wise and pound foolish about this. If the estate has equity, which is value of the apartment above the mortgage, then the creditors can bring a proceeding to sell the property to pay the debt. The longer you leave title in your name, the more likely there are problems. Is it a co-op or condo? If a co-op there are likely rules on how long you have to change the title, or be evicted. Call a lawyer. I am not sure what you have been quoted, but there is work to do.
Answered on Jul 14th, 2013 at 11:01 AM