Hello:

I have been stewing over this question for about a year now, I have ask about everyone out here in the real world, and have gotten all sorts of answers. On this forum, there seem to be some knowleglable people who have been through stuff like this before, so let me throw the question out here:

My wife has a big heap of medical bills. About $40,000 worth. All are in her name, however they were created after we were married.

I have one house, tax assessed for $47,000 and I have a small equity loan on the house, the balance is about $13,000. The house is in my name only.
We have two clunker cars, both legally worthless (tax essements about $350 on one and $800 on the other), and again, both in my name.

Basically, everything we have is in my name alone.

We live in the State of Virginia.

We had planned to pay the hospital about $300 per month or more on this debt until it is paid. We will commit to no more than $300 per month. No papers have been signed yet, and collections have not yet started.

I have been told that the hospital has to accept what we can afford to pay.

I have been told that they can't touch our (or my) house, or car(s).

I have been told since none of our assets are in her name, they can't touch anything anyway.

And I have been told I better be ready for a judgement (on my credit file)

So tonight I decided to view my credit report. I was pleased to find that although Im still in the "building credit" range, I have no bad marks on the report.

My wife tried to veiw hers, but we ran into a problem, don't know what's in there, but we did see a reference to COLUMBIA NATIONAL on the first screen, this is legal name for the hospital she stayed in. I am left to assume they have already reported something to her credit report, but there isn't a trace of it on mine.

She makes about $600 per month on disability, I make quite a bit more, but I also work for a living too.

As an individual, do I have anything to worry about? In other words, can they touch anything that is titled to me (including my pay) over these medical bills? If so, talk about being pentalized for getting married.

Andrew, first I am not an attorney, so don't rely on this fully, might want to just consult with one for peace of mind, but my best guess is no they can't take your home or vehicles nor can they report the past due bills on your credit report. Unless of course, you signed guaranteeing the bills would be paid. They can, and it appears they have done so, report the unpaid bills so it shows on her credit report. Andrew that's a lot of money to have to pay back ! At $300 per month plus any fees, interest they might add, would take a long time to repay. I hate bankruptcy, just goes against my grain for me to ever consider it but sometimes, it's just necessary. I understand the leading or one of the leading causes of bankruptcy is being without medical insurance and incurring a huge bill. Might be the only way to start fresh ! If you are like me, I would get irate for someone even mentioning it as a possibility so please don't take it personal. You and the wife might have a sitdown talk with the hosptial and try to negotiate the amount down, like to $10,000 or even less, don't take out a mortgage on your home, you must live somewhere and there is no need to place it in jeopardy by paying off the hosp with money from a mortgage loan. Hope my two cents helps. Get others opinions as well, maybe even visit an attorney.

Thanks for your replay Richard. I was hoping you would be among those who answer.

From what I gather on the internet, Virginia is a common property state, meaning that if a spouce holds a title on an assett, then that assett is the sole property of that spouce.
That may be fine and good for divorce settlements, but I was unsure how this would measure up on medical bills.

I have also read on the internet that they can not garnsih wages for more than 25% of what is made.

There again, I may be in error in all of this. Now if they only go after her wages for garnsihment, well, 25% of $600 is $150. They'd be better to stick with the $300. If they go after both of our incomes together, then 25% is just under $700 per month. That will make things a bit tight, but it is affordable.

My wife filed bankruptcy right before we got married, about 3 1/2 years ago, so she can't file again for another 3 1/2 years, and then Im not sure she can do it and not drag my credit into it too.

Uaahhg... Its clear why the popular trend is NOT to get married.

Oh, I will also add, that my wife spoke with the para-legal who helped her in her dissability case, the PL said that they can't touch me or anything that belongs to me, but there again, I didn't hear this come out of her mouth, and she's only a paralegal. Also it should be noted my wife has a tendency to misunderstand thing.

Andrew, tough position for her and you to be in, it's beyond my expertise to really add anything except for sitting down with an attorney. If you do, understand the atty's fees or better yet look for some free legal advise, call the local county bar association, ask if they can direct you to free advice. If you don't want to go that way and I personally wouldn't want to, I would sit down with the hospital and let them hear your position, explain you have limited resources and income, that she's disabled, try to negotiate the $40M bill down too much much less, but don't sign anything with your name agreeing to pay.

Any agreement from the hospital should be in writing to avoid misunderstanding. Ask the hospital to write up the contract for you to review and to the terms of payment that you will make to them.

Andrew, my belief is that YOU are not obligated, it's her that is obligated, it's her credit that will be affected, not yours, I don't think your cars, home is in jeopardy, so what is the hosp going to do, perhaps attach her disability pay, I don't think they can do that, I might be wrong, so why should you sign any agreement and perhaps obligate yourself when I can't see that you are obligated at all. I would not sign any agreement. If they verbally agree (with your wife) to accept less or if they agree to accept less from your wife, then I can't see anything wrong with her signing, but not you signing. Don't sign anything, let her sign.

I'll agree with that idea. I don't mind helping my wife pay it off, I just don't want any of my assets being attached to it.

In today's society, its becoming harder and harder for an employer to offer family benefits at an affordable price. Most employers just cover the employee and maybe a child. More and more common its up to each spouce to bring their own health insurance to the table.

In fact, I have never had a job that covered a spouce.