Seperation and bankruptcy
My parents are in their 80’s, in 2005 they had to be seperated because my mother went into LTC, my mother never in her life had a credit card, my father however has now declared banckruptcy in another province,I am taking care of my mother totally now, we have not had contact with my father for over a year,yesterday I received a registered letter from Banque Nationale addressed to my mother, forwarded to me by my father stating that she owes over 11,000 dollars, when I contacted him he said, he had over 30 thousand in credit card debt and that she would be responsible for half of it? My mother is on subsidized assistance to live in the LTC she is in, she is given the allowable amount of 118 dollars a month which doenst come close to meeting her expenses, I cover all her personal needs, what do I do now, does she need to file bankruptcy, can she be held responsible even though she never ever signed anything?
If I had to guess, I would say that when your father applied for some of his credit cards he also requested supplementary cards for your mother – that is probably how her name bcame associated with the debt.
If your mother is on a fixed income then I suggest you write a letter to the company that is trying to collect from her, setting out her income and expenses, denying any involvement with the debt and therefore any obligation to pay. Given your mother’s circumstances I suspect the matter may just “go away”.