Elderly and Credit Card Debt and Judgements
An elderly relative is incapacitated due to a serious automobile wreck - may or may not recover mental capacity. Her husband (late 70's) has a very limited knowledge of their financial situation and is significantly overwhelmed. He does not have power of attorney for his wife. The wife was having mental and physical issues prior to the wreck and, while handling the family finances, was obviously not capable based on what we see. He did not personally use any of the credit cards and was not aware of how bad their situation is.
The issues:
There is signifcant credit card debt along with two judgements. One ($5k) with a significant monthly payment going out of their checking account. The other ($30k) is where judgement papers were issued a couple of months ago but no one has signed them yet. There will be significant medical bills which Medicare and the supplemental will not pay. There is another debt for ~$10k which has been issued to a collections agency.
Questons:
What are the options for the husband? Can he file for bankruptcy for both him and his wife? From spending time on the internet today, it appears he needs to wait until all the medical bills are in.