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[mace]

ok, My mother in law only makes 8100 a year. She earns this money from a death pension from when her husband died. She owns her home which is woth nothing, owns a car prolly worh about 1500. She owes about 20k in credit card debt. She uses it to buy food and medication because of her diabetes and is left with nothing every month. She spends about 400 a month on these three cards. So it's just a viscious cycle of making the credit payments so she can buy her meds and food and pay her electricity.

To be honest, I don't even know if it would be worth her filing bankruptcy or just stop paying the bills. I told her to stop paying them starting January, because she just can't afford it.

I guess bottom line, can she stop paying her bills right now for a couple of months if we have to find an attorney to file or should she just stop paying them and dealing with the collection calls? I was gong to do a cease and desist letter to the three companies so they wont call or bother her. She just cana't make it. She's not going to sell her house, she's 62 so a lien or judgement on house wouldnt matter, and she meets the means test.

Her three cards equal about 20k in debt. And they havne' t been used for luxary items of course.

But is it true that they could not garnish her bank account or death benefit pension?

Please any information would be helpful. She cant make it and it's hard for her.

Thanks in advance

[iden]

The answer to your question depends on Texas law and I am not from Texas so I don't know what your state's law says.

But most bankruptcy attorneys (including in Texas) offer one free appointment to assess the case and advise the debtor regarding their situation. Make a free appointment with a bankruptcy attorney in your Mother's local area and get that one appointment's worth of free advice from a real attorney licensed to practice in Texas and knowledgeable about debt collection and bankruptcy law.

[calin]

long ago she should have gotten with a county counselor at some support center there in your city and talked it out to see what help/benefits she could have received. Or even look into Walmart's perscription plan. She has about 4 years till retirement I guess so maybe she will receive some money from that when she applies, and she can get on Medicare at that time if she's not on it already. She can call a place like Merc (medication maker) and tell them she can't afford her medicine and could they give her the number where she could get some help to pay those. If she's putting food on credit cards then she needs to get on food stamps. Food stamps allotment is enough to live on so she shouldn't have to use the credit cards for that anymore. A person can get along on $100 or less in food. The county's support services can pay only one electric bill per year so she will either have to cut back and insulate her home or sell the home and move to an efficiency or studio apartment. .You know a person can stop being a diabetic by eating properly. She can contact the Department of Aging in her state and ask for help or the Department of Aging in your county and ask for help, direction, websites and phone numbers to call for assistance. The county will send over someone to make an assessment. Some places have attorneys who will work pro bono and others on a sliding scale so call AARP in your area and ask.

[melville]

It really depends on what kind of death benefit she gets. If it is Social Security funds only in the bank account, it is exempt from being attached. There's paperwork that she would have to fill out. Some other pensions fall into this same exemption, but not all.

With her small income, I don't imagine she has much of a bank account balance. Might be just as easy to not keep any money in the bank account if someone actually gets a judgment on her. They do have to sue first.

There really isn't any advantage in her spending the $2K or so to file bankruptcy. Just let the credit card go into default. Then get an answering machine to screen calls so she doesn't have to deal with the collectors.