Some estate help from my friends.

[LarryHoward]

Any advice out there?

My mother died in Dec 2014, some 25 months ago. About 6 months prior, she fell and broke her hip (which ultimately led to her death) about 90 miles from home, just across the border in rural Oklahoma. She spent a night in that country hospital and then was transferred to a major medical center in Dallas due to her complex medical history and the severity of injuries. Over the next several months, multiple bills came in and Medicare paid most, her supplemental paid a lot and some was her responsibility to pay (or me as her POA and then Executor). In all but a few cases, the bills were auditable and the Medicare and Supplemental insurance explanations of benefits matched provider statements. In all but one of the other, I was able to determine that they had not billed Medicare properly and able to resolve them in a reasonable period of time.

That leaves one. Late in the process, the hospital in OK hits me with a not insignificant bill. Medicare processed their bill, the supplemental processed it and the finale EOB showed a zero balance due to the provider. I made multiple calls asking for them to provide a detailed invoice showing billed amount, allowed amount, Medicare and Supplemental so that I could ascertain the accuracy of the bill. Started responding to bills with a letter asking the same info. Got the typical "we are just the billing service. How do you want to pay?" Sent a registered letter to the CEO of the hospital holding company providing the EOBs and asking for the same info. Got a call from a flunky telling me "the bill is valid. You need to pay it." Repeated the request for the detailed invoice and told them "no data. No pay." Got a "we will send you the info". Never heard from them again.

Now, more than 2.5 years after the treatment and more than a year since the last discussion, I have received a collection notice adddressed to her. Obviously, an assimilator of written off bills bought the paper for pennies on the dollar and wants to collect. Moms had no probatable assets and what cash, investments and insurance she had have long been distributed to her beneficiaries.

As Executor, I have a fiduciary responsible to settle legitimate claims but feel I went over and above to try to confirm the validity of this one with no cooperation from the biller and also have a responsibility to the beneficiaries of the estate to not pay unsubstantiated bills. Bill is less than $2,000 but I'd have to go the the beneficiaries to get the money and I still have not seen a detailed invoice.

Naturally her Medicare records and supplemental insurance records have been closed although I still have the correspondence and EOBs from the saga above.

Is there any reason for me to respond with other than "she's still dead" and "there are no estate assets to address any 2.5 year old debts".

[BeauV]

Larry,

First, I'm sorry your Mom's gone. I miss mine every day.

Second, I have no idea what the law would say. I would simply toss the letter in the trash. (Not expert advice.) Who the F**K do they think they are??? You did your level best, they never even answered you. Park that letter in the round file under the kitchen sink next to the rat poison and RAID.

Again, sorry for your loss!

B

[Orestes Munn]

Am not a lawyer, but I asked some what to do with similar nonsense after and even before my parents died. The answer was always, "pay it if you want to, otherwise ignore it." Joel will have a more reliable opinion.

[Tim Ford]

I had this issue in a different sense a couple decades ago....it did not involve probate but it was an out-of-state issue. I knew someone at that time in the AGs office and they suggested I report it through their office of Consumer Protection as a harassment claim (it was). Ultimately I ended up paying an attorney a pittance (was a friend of mine) to write them a cease and desist letter (citing the case number of the claim with the AGs office). That stopped it. Sometimes you need an officer of the court to get home the message that they need to f*ck off.

I hate this kind of thing. There's a world renowned medical institution in East Baltimore that routinely double bills. Their strategy, as far as I can tell, is just wear down the poor sap until they pay up.

Best of luck, Larry!

[Orestes Munn]

I had this issue in a different sense a couple decades ago....it did not involve probate but it was an out-of-state issue. I knew someone at that time in the AGs office and they suggested I report it through their office of Consumer Protection as a harassment claim (it was). Ultimately I ended up paying an attorney a pittance (was a friend of mine) to write them a cease and desist letter (citing the case number of the claim with the AGs office). That stopped it. Sometimes you need an officer of the court to get home the message that they need to f*ck off.

I hate this kind of thing. There's a world renowned medical institution in East Baltimore that routinely double bills. Their strategy, as far as I can tell, is just wear down the poor sap until they pay up.

Best of luck, Larry!

Hospitals are used to collecting bupkis on the dollar.

[kimbottles]

We had one of those demand letters after my mom died, we threw it away. Never heard another thing.
I am afraid some of those are simply a racket.

[TheOffice]

Larry,

Not my area of expertise, but you are not responsible for the bills, and unless a timely claim was made against the estate by filing a claim with the Probate Court, it is not responsible either.

Joel

[LarryHoward]

Larry,

Not my area of expertise, but you are not responsible for the bills, and unless a timely claim was made against the estate by filing a claim with the Probate Court, it is not responsible either.

Joel

Thanks Joel. She was a Texas resident with a Texas will so the estate was set up to not require probate (no real property, all bank accounts with co-owners and survivorship and all investments/IRAs had up to date beneficiaries) so the will did not have to filed for the probate court according to the Texas lawyer who set it up. With the agreement of the beneficiaries, I feel I went over and above to collect and honor properly presented end of life bills. I'm pretty much of the opinion the disregard this new collection action addressed to her (not to the estate) 2.5 years after the fact.

Larry