Dementia and Debt: What to Do

When you are faced with a parent with dementia, things can get tough. The medical bills will skyrocket as you pursue the best methods to help your parent find comfort despite his or her illness, and your mentally incapacitated parent probably won’t be able to pay the bills any longer. Even with an IRA in place, it can be hard to get out of debt when dementia is a factor in your life. According to Steve Bucci, a financial advisor at Bankrate, if you are being contacted by creditors while you parents are suffering from disease, you have options to consider.

First of all, according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you can send creditors a firm letter demanding that you are not contacted with debt collections requests except when the companies plan to inform you that further action will be taken. This will give you a temporary reprieve from the collections calls while you try to sort through your parent’s debts and deal with his or her illness. The fact is, even if creditors aren’t calling you, you still owe money that needs to be paid.

If you are trying to aid your parent with financial matters because of his or her mentally impaired condition, then you may need to think about bankruptcy. You parent’s business may be seized by creditors if it is a sole proprietorship, and your other parent may be forced to pay back a mounting expense. If creditors cannot take either of these options due to state laws, then they will probably sue your parents for the money that they owe.

The only time that creditors cannot take legal action against your dementia-ridden parents is if the business that they are trying to collect from is not a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company known as an LLC. When you are dealing with your parent’s debt, you may want to consider developing a repayment plan or liquidating assets. Talk to a bankruptcy attorney in your area today to get more information on taking action against your debts right away.