Pennsylvania PA Life Insurance
Reader’s Question:
I live in Pennsylvania. A life insurance policy was paid out to me and my two sisters when my father passed away last January in Pennsylvania. A few months after the pay out, the hospital started sending us bills, making us responsible since we are the ones who received the insurance money. Can the creditors have a sheriff sale of our personal belongings if we cannot pay the hospital bills?
Tina
Erie, PA
You need to know from the hospital first why they are sending your father’s hospital bills to you. Perhaps the hospital is assuming that one of you opened a probate estate and became personal representative for the estate. Normally, it is the estate that would be liable to pay the bills and if there is not enough in the estate to pay up, the hospital then is going to be out of luck.
Pennsylvania life insurance proceeds that are paid to a beneficiary rather than the probate estate would not be available for payment of claims against the estate.
Find an attorney in Pennsylvania experienced in elder law so you will know more about filial responsibility based on the law of Pennsylvania.
For more information, you can search from the internet on PA Act 43 of 2005.
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