Any advice?

Question

Short story.....mom passed away...stepdad in nursing home with advanced Alzheimers. Process server tried to serve dad at home; spoke to me instead....advised process server of dad's whereabouts and condition. Process server left; going to supervisor for direction. Get call from nursing home that dad was "served" there. All this for a credit card bill. Besides the obvious of getting an attorney....what are my options, rights, etc?
I have power of attorney, and I do look after his care/finances. I stopped paying their bills due to dad's foreseeable increase in care costs. Can they make ME pay for this? Can they take my dad to jail???? Can they put ME in jail for non-payment? Is it legal to serve someone that is not mentally compentant enough to understand what they've been served?

Answer 1

You need to file an answer with the court stating that he was served, attach a doctors statement that he is not mentally competent. You have 30 days to do this in most states. You don't say what is his source of income, does he have bank accounts or just his social security. if he just has social security or a pension that cannot be garnished by the creditors and in most cases they will dismiss the case instead of wasting time going to court. If he has a lot of assets though they might try to garnish them. They cannot put anyone in jail for debts and you are not personally responsible for his debts. Your only responsibility is as his agent since you have the power of attorney. In any case unless he has a lot of assets they will probably drop the case since it will take a lot of time to pursue and will be hard to collect.
Just don't use the credit card if it is still valid. In most courts they can give you instruction on how to file the answer. If I can help in anyway just email me and I will be happy to help you.

Answer 2

Credit Card company serving you what, a subpoena? a lien or right on your dad's assets should he go bankrupt? I'm not sure what they sent to him.

Take the document, whatever it was, and get free legal consultation on it. A lawyer could tell you in 20-30 minutes what to do free of charge. Just tell the attorney (talk to three or four) that you need advise at this point and are not looking to hire one. If you run into a bunch of weasels trying to make money off of you, then, just go to a law school and talk to a professor or someone civilized at a law school.

1. I doubt that they'll put your father in jail for a credit card debt, so don't worry about it.

2. I doubt that you are even the slightest risk of being put in jail, so, don't worry about that.

My mother passed away in 99 and I ran into a similar situation with her credit card companies sending the most obnoxiously threatening letters possible. I ignored them and the phone calls. It's all psychological, them sounding authoritative.

What normally happens is after 30 days, a friendly warning; then, at 60 days, it gets meaner (they usually raise the interest rates from 15% to 30%); then, at 90 days, they'll usually hire an outside collection agency (whose job is to use every trick possible to make the person in debt pay, including "serving papers" or calling with intimidating sounding people on the phone, etc).

After 360 days, or so, they just disappear.

The only ones to worry about are ones that have liens on property (secured loans or credit). Those agencies can confiscate a house or car or something like that.

Credit companies cannot do anything, and that is why credit card rates are so high.

Answer 3

I know you are looking for something other that the obvious, but the only correct answer is that you need to seek the advise of a lawyer in your area. Even though you have a couple of responses already, to me they sound completely wrong.