Florida hosptial wanting to place a lien on house?

Question

A family member has an outstanding bill from a local hospital for $35,000. She's unemployed due to health conditions and only receives a small widow's pension from the Vets. Admin. She had worked out a plan with the hospital to pay it off. Then they suddenly stopped sending her the bill and now she has gotten a threatening call from a collection agency claiming to represent the hospital. In the call the man stated that if the debt is not paid off they will place a lien on her house. She has filled out all paperwork for Medicaid assistance but has been denied numerous times. She has called the finance dept of the hospital many times but has yet to get a call back. Does anyone know what she can do or what course of action she can take to avoid the lien being placed? Thank you for the help!!

Answer 1

There is no point in trying to contact the hospital, they have sold her debt to the collection company.

For them to actually file a lien on her home they will have to take her to court and get a judgment first. Even if they do this there really is not a lot that will happen unless she trys to sell the home. Then the collection company will be paid out of the profits after the first mortgage (if there is one) is paid and your family member will get any remaining funds.

As far as her widows pension, it's exempt from garnishment unless it's by the Federal Government so she doe's not have to worry about that either.

She can try and work out some sort of payment plan with the collection company, but if this fails she really doe's not have a lot to worry about.

Answer 2

Calling the hospital will get you NO WHERE. The hospital sold that bad debt to some slimy debt collection agency. The hospital has absolutely nothing to do with this debt anymore.

The collection agency probably bought this debt for a couple hundred bucks. I would not worry about them too much, they use threatening strong arm tactics to retreive money, but rarely do anything. (Bark is worst than their bite).

Putting a lein on someones property can only effect the person if they are selling the property, and only then does the title company try to satisfy the liens. If your friend is not selling her home anytime soon, she should transfer the deed in her heirs name, where they would only receive it upon her death, and the debt it is still uncollectable, until the heirs sell.

This debt collector will continue to call and harass her, ESPECIALLY if they feel like she is vulnerable. Have her screen her calls, and not answer any calls from them, throw away any bills she receives from them. Eventually, the debt collectors will start to think they made a bad investment by purchasing this debt, and will hope to get their money back, and reduce the amount they want to what they paid.

The people are bottom feeders, preying on people's vulnerabilities. I would be thankful that the hospital no longer has the debt, and do NOT let these collectors intimidate you. They'll go away soon enough.

If you listen to them they will first treat her with:
1. HEAVY threats
2. Ease up a little, sound sympethetic, and reduce the amount
3. If no pay, they will strong arm again

REMEMBER THIS::::::: They paid pennies on the dollar for this debt. Maintain the position if I had the money, I would have paid the hospital. I do not have the money, therefore I will not pay you. PERIOD........ It may take a while, but they'll go away. Good Luck

Answer 3

If the hospital has turned over the debt to a collector than they would be the ones to get in touch with, chances are the hospital may not deal with a resolution at this point. If shw had been paying without fail on the pmt plan they should not have turned over the debt. If she defaulted on payments then thats why it went to collections (I've found that with FL while somethings are good medical payments are pretty serious)
Anyway even if they stopped sending a bill, the outstanding balance didnt disappear so you just can't say well it must be gone now. The best thing contact the collector again and try to keep working till you get someone who will set up a pmt schedule again .. you may have to make lots of requests to speak to someone with more authority, and with collectors try to be nice and sound like you're sorry and really need a break (they're human and you might find a sympathic ear) I know since I did collection work myself. In the end if you can't get them to resolve it and the hospital can't explain why it was forwarded to collection agency, try getting a lawyer who'll do a free consult (they're are millions of those down there) even on some of the morning tv shows they have call ins to ask a lawyer (Tampa/Orlando area) The lein would just mean in the event the house is sold they'll get money ... I don't think it would force her out since FL has certain protections there but I don't know the specifics of that but it takes a lot to lose your home from what I understand. Good luck, and I hope it all turns out okay.

Answer 4

Alot of times the threats are nothing more than a scare tactic. I don't understand why she quit paying her monthly installment? Regardless if she gets a bill or not. She was in an installment plan and should have kept paying. The best thing for her to do is to continue paying the hospital and keep track of it. I highly doubt they will put a lien on her house. If so, so what, they can not get any money from her unless she sells the house. That is where they will get the money due to them. So, I am assuming that she isn't going to sell the house, she should continue paying her installment amount faithfully every month AND keep track of this "harassment" from the creditor and file charges against them when necessary. Good Luck

Answer 5

I agree with Spifiman - her pension is exempt.

Florida has excellent exemption statutes that she needs to utilize.

Florida allows the residents of the state to place homestead exemption on their property which may keep the property lien free should a person be sued AND also may remove a lien if a person had been sued and a lien had been filed.

"""She needs to file for the exemption status, it is a different filing than the homestead tax form that she has to file yearly."""

I would suggest doing some reading on the link I've provided to the Florida Legislation concerning the exemption statutes:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0222/titl0222.htm&StatuteYear=2004&Title=%2D%3E2004%2D%3EChapter%20222

She might also do some reading on the following link to the Florida Bar Assoc. concerning debtors rights (it also helps explain the exemption rights)
http://www.floridabar.org/TFB/TFBConsum.nsf/48e76203493b82ad852567090070c9b9/14e6210c7536af9d85256b2f006c54ed?OpenDocument

Answer 6

The only thing she can do is either work something out with the hospital as far as a payment plan which it sounds like she has already tried or she can try to get some equity out of her house to pay the balance in full. Other than that there is nothing she can do.

Answer 7

The invoice is his to pay if his sister won't, yet except he has been in court docket and the court docket gave the series business enterprise a lien on his belongings, there is none. If he became in court docket and there's a lien, they could no longer carry collectively on it except the valuables became presented on the marketplace, and offered, then their lien could be happy first.

Answer 8

You know what I would do - I would contact the newspaper and see if you can find a reporter looking for a good human interest story. Publicity is what these people don't want but that is what they need. We all hear about the free stuff they give to the illegal aliens but for the God fearing citizens they won't give them the sweat off their brow. That is what I would do. Good Luck

Answer 9

She could have professionas negotiate a 1-time settlement at a discount. The key would be having money available to take advantage of the discount like from a reverse mortgage, or refinance, or relatives. Good luck.

Answer 10

Yes, transfer the house in to a family members name. Or else they can get a lein. Have her do that soon! But, only to some one she can trust like her kid.