Erroneous Bills After DeathI know very little about estate planning and execution of financial and legal responsibilities for someone who is deceased. I know it all falls under the term estate administration, but other than that the details escape me because I have never had to do it. What I learned recently as a result of the death of my grandmother is that just because you’re already dead doesn’t mean they can’t bill you. You see she was in a nursing home at the time she passed. My father was busy settling her affairs there when he discovered she was being billed for medication purchased and administered two days after she had died.

Sorry Charlie, but the woman is dead, the meds won’t help.

OK, perhaps that is a little harsh and sarcastic, but it does leave you scratching your head wondering who is paying attention to what in the place?

For normal expenses and debts, a person’s estate is responsible for them even after death. However, personal family members are not necessarily responsible for the debts if the estate does not have the assets to pay for them.

A great question on Caring.com “Am I responsible for my father’s nursing home bill?”

A person’s debt does not die with them. What usually happens is that all creditors are notified when a person dies — and the outstanding debts are ranked in a hierarchy set out in state law and paid off from remaining estate property. If there is not enough property to satisfy the creditors at the tail end of the list, for example, they are simply out of luck and out of pocket.

The fact that you were authorized to act for your father in his power of attorney does not make you personally responsible for his debts. About the only way you would be responsible is if you signed on as your father’s personal guarantor when your father entered the nursing home, so you would be wise to get a copy of the nursing home contract and check out whether you expressly took on this obligation.

That is the normal scheme of things. However, what I’m talking about are plain and obscene billing snafus. In the same breath that my father told me about being billed for my grandmother’s medication which was apparently administered to her two days after she died (besides the obvious, how do you administer meds to an empty room??) he told me of a friend of his whose aunt just passed in the hospital. The hospital billed them for X-rays performed several days after her death. Hmmmm… and we wonder why medical claims and the cost of insurance has skyrocketed? We only know about these charges because my father is diligent about checking every little line item on everything (yes the apple does not fall far from the tree). What about all the folks who don’t check their bills or balance their checkbooks? Do those erroneous charges just get paid, not questions asked?

While we can sigh and say it is a sign of the times, apparently it is just a continuation or worsening of an existing problem. I found this NY Times article published in 1992 (you got that right, 16 years ago!) . But the advice remains sound:

After the professional work has been completed by a doctor or hospital, the bill should be scrutinized for mistakes and for services that were not provided or ordered. It may be difficult for lay people to read the bill, though, not only because of the codes, but also because of obscure medical terms and abbreviations.

Regardless of the reason, ask for an itemized listing and explanation of the charges so you can review them for reasonableness. When you cannot understand a listing or are confused about the treatment received, insist that the hospital’s billing office or doctor’s office staff decipher the bill.

The advantages of examining medical bills go beyond any dollar savings from your own pocket. The big picture is that erroneous charges paid by an insurance plan eventually come, fully or partly, from the participants in the plan. So, directly or indirectly, patients have a big personal stake in trimming medical bills that contain erroneous charges.

Although I would say erroneous charges like the ones my family experienced are even harder to catch. Immediately after someone dies families are often knee deep in grief, burial arrangements, and simply attempting to take it day by day. Checking the bill for services provided post-mortem is not at the top of the list.

I did learn while talking to an elder law attorney last week at a networking event that there are services you can hire to help you navigate all this and ensure you are not being taken for a ride. It is worth considering.

It got me to thinking – if or how this might be additionally compounded for an LGBT couple. My uneducated hunch is that it doesn’t matter what the legal status of your relationship is, an executor simply administers the estate (the myriad of legal and financial inequities we face come in at that point not by discriminating against WHO can do the administration). I’m not sure though.

I would love to hear your stories and experiences with this sort of situation both in general and how it may have different because you were LGBT. Looking forward to your comments…

Photo by: miguelb

Paula Gregorowicz, owner of The Paula G. Company, works with lesbianswho are ready to create their lives and businesses in a way that fits who they are rather than how they were told they “should”. Get the free 12 part eCourse “How to Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin” http://www.coaching4lesbians.com and start taking charge of your own success.