Am I responsible for stepdaughter’s ER bill

[Veiledpanther]

Several years ago my stepdaughter had a suspected broken arm. Her dad was at work and said he couldn’t leave, so I took her to the ER. I signed what I believed was consent to treat her. However, all of those bills have come to me and are now in collection. She had no medical insurance. This is where it gets tricky. Her dad did not have legal custody of her…only a verbal arrangement with child’s mom for child to live with us. Mom lived out of state. As this child lived in my house and I was the only adult able to take her to be treated for her injury, I did so. Since I did this and signed whatever papers the hospital shoved in front of me, am I legally responsible for this bill? This all occurred in Florida. 

[WhoCares1000]

@Clydesmom might have a better answer but because you signed for liability, you might have to pay the bills. The courts might tell you that you are responsible to the hospital and that you would need to sue the parents yourself to get those payments back.

[Clydesmom]

19 hours ago, Veiledpanther said:

Since I did this and signed whatever papers the hospital shoved in front of me, am I legally responsible for this bill?

@WhoCares1000is correct.  You likely signed a financial guarantee making you responsible for the bills.  You need a copy of what you signed to be certain.  

The big question I have is why your husband did not make arrangements with Mom to submit it to any insurance she carried for the step daughter and if there was no coverage to pay those bills long before your credit was trashed.  What is the story there?

[Veiledpanther]

Sadly, neither parent carried any medical insurance on my stepdaughter…nor did either provide any financial support towards her care. I was only able to afford vision and dental insurance for her and later took out a flex spending account to pay any medical bills she may have needed. Her dad leeched off of me until I finally got smart and booted him out. When that happened, neither parent took or retained custody of the girl and they left her on her own (@ 16 yrs old) to fend for herself until I took her in. I have essentially been the only adult/parent figure in this girl’s life who has taken any care or responsibility for her. Suing the parents would be fruitless as they tend to their debts as well as they cared for the children they produced. 
I appreciate your feedback very much. Guess it’s time to work out a payment arrangement with the collection agency. Live and learn. 

[WhoCares1000]

My guess is that you are not going to get much out of the parents, even if you did sue them (however, if they have a house you can put a lien on or any other possible property, that is an option).

[shadow99]

Does it matter that OP probably wasn't legally able to sign the consent for treatment?

Any arbitration clauses in the paperwork? At least ask for a copy of what you signed so you know if you did say you'd be the responsible party.

Have you tried to work it out through the hospital's hardship or charitable program?  You might be able to get it negotiated way down at least.

Just because a collector is working the account doesn't mean the hospital isn't involved.  I'm fighting an ambulance service for balance billing.  I keep offering the roughly 50-60% our insurance paid, but the collection agency told me they can only deduct 10%.  They added I can call the ambulance service directly and they might take what I offer.  I haven't got that far yet - bigger fish to fry lately.

[Veiledpanther]

4 hours ago, WhoCares1000 said:

My guess is that you are not going to get much out of the parents, even if you did sue them (however, if they have a house you can put a lien on or any other possible property, that is an option).

Neither parent has any property or assets…they both continue to leech off others. 

 

14 minutes ago, shadow99 said:

Does it matter that OP probably wasn't legally able to sign the consent for treatment?

Any arbitration clauses in the paperwork? At least ask for a copy of what you signed so you know if you did say you'd be the responsible party.

Having no legal rights nor responsibility of the child, it may have been illegal for me to sign for treatment for her. At the time my primary concern was having her evaluated and treated for a broken arm…something I didn’t feel could wait 4-5 hours until the dad got out of work. 
I’ll have to ask the hospital for a copy of what I signed. 
Thank you for your input. 

[shadow99]

1 hour ago, Veiledpanther said:

Having no legal rights nor responsibility of the child, it may have been illegal for me to sign for treatment for her. At the time my primary concern was having her evaluated and treated for a broken arm…something I didn’t feel could wait 4-5 hours until the dad got out of work.

I think you did the right thing at the time - I wasn't trying to say you did anything wrong.

I was just wondering if there was any way to get around the financial responsibility because they didn't make sure you were legally able to give consent. 

That's all.  Maybe it's a bargaining chip to get it negotiated down?

An arbitration clause in the fine print would also be a bargaining chip. 

(I can sympathize with your issues.  My grandparents raised me from 3 months old and never had legal custody, they just acted like they did.  Today, they probably would have a hard time even enrolling me in school.  On a positive note, I got great financial aid in college because they had to treat me like an independent adult with no parental contributions from the time I enrolled at 17. If I'd had lived with actual parents, that wouldn't have happened until I was 24 even if they never contributed a penny.  Let her know that it could work in her favor if she wants a good education.)

 

[Clydesmom]

2 hours ago, Veiledpanther said:

Having no legal rights nor responsibility of the child, it may have been illegal for me to sign for treatment for her.

Not in an emergency.  You would not have been able to sign consent for her to have elective care.  Unfortunately you likely signed two separate documents.  One for treating her and the other for financial responsibility.  NOTHING prevents a legal age adult from accepting financial responsibility in writing for someone else.  Minor or not.  The other issue with her being a minor in a medical emergency they actually did not require your signature either.  The law in every state presumes that the parent(s) would want the child treated until stable in their absence until they can be located and consulted at least by phone.  If the hospital had a true concern they would have spoken up but given that you were married to Dad and carried same last name as the child they likely assumed you were Mom and legal to consent.  Did you inform them at the time you were the step parent without power of attorney?

48 minutes ago, shadow99 said:

I was just wondering if there was any way to get around the financial responsibility because they didn't make sure you were legally able to give consent. 

Nope.  See above.

49 minutes ago, shadow99 said:

An arbitration clause in the fine print would also be a bargaining chip. 

It would also be extremely rare.  The chances there is an arb clause in the financial agreement is slim to none.  It can't hurt to look but I would not get hopes up on that.  

[Veiledpanther]

No one asked about my legal status, and although I did make it known that I was step mom, I didn’t state my lack of legal responsibility. I was afraid they may refuse to see her if they knew. 
I’ll ask for a copy of what I signed, but am guessing the hospital covered all of their bases. 
Is there any time limit from the date that the debt is incurred until it’s considered invalid? The ER visit happened at least 5-6 years ago and I had even completely forgotten about the bill. The hospital sent me bills for a year or so, that got put into the pile of bills I couldn’t pay (due to leech dad sucking me dry) and then I heard nothing until it showed on my credit report. 

[shadow99]

Every state has a statute of limitations on debt.  Look to see what Florida has for medical debt.

Any payments or promises to pay could restart the timer.

[WhoCares1000]

5 - 6 years ago? It looks like the statute of limitations might have expired on this meaning that they cannot sue you. Medical debt liability is incurred on the date of service and that is what the starts the SOL clock. The statute of limitations for most written debts in Florida is 5 years.

The first thing you should do is get copies of what you signed and when and determine if you have been sued in court. If you have been setting aside bills and papers, you might have been served and not know it. Especially if service by mail is OK where you are at.

After that, considering the bill might be 4 or even 5 figures, it might be work a couple of hundred dollars to do a 30 minute - 1 hour consult with a consumer attorney (some might even do it for free) to determine where you stand with all this. I think you can Google consumer attorney in your community and find one. They will give you more legally valid information than we ever could on this board.

[Clydesmom]

13 hours ago, Veiledpanther said:

No one asked about my legal status, and although I did make it known that I was step mom, I didn’t state my lack of legal responsibility. I was afraid they may refuse to see her if they knew. 
I’ll ask for a copy of what I signed, but am guessing the hospital covered all of their bases. 
Is there any time limit from the date that the debt is incurred until it’s considered invalid? The ER visit happened at least 5-6 years ago and I had even completely forgotten about the bill. The hospital sent me bills for a year or so, that got put into the pile of bills I couldn’t pay (due to leech dad sucking me dry) and then I heard nothing until it showed on my credit report. 

If you identified as step mom they likely assumed you had power of attorney to sign for treatment.  No POA needed to agree to pay though.  If the visit was at least 5 years ago they cannot sue you.  Well, they can but you have a gold plated defense if they did.  My guess is at this stage they are simply sending "please pay this" letters and nothing more.  If the debt is six years old I would simply let it fall off.  In 18 months or less they can't report it either.  The choice is yours if they cannot take you to court.  

[Veiledpanther]

I thank you all for all of your input and advisement. I certainly don’t want to reset the clock on this bill, so will tread carefully and consider the options. 

[BackFromTheDebt]

1 hour ago, Veiledpanther said:

I thank you all for all of your input and advisement. I certainly don’t want to reset the clock on this bill, so will tread carefully and consider the options. 

Just to check -- sometimes the SOL is from the last payment.  So you haven't paid anything on this, right?

[shadow99]

One other consideration, it sounded like you're no longer with her father, so divorce?

Was there anything in the divorce decree about debts?

If he took his debt and you took yours, it could be that his child's medical bills would be his responsibility after the divorce?

Either way, letting the statute of limitations expire if it's close and you haven't been sued is the best thing. Maybe it has already as mentioned above.

[WhoCares1000]

1 hour ago, shadow99 said:

One other consideration, it sounded like you're no longer with her father, so divorce?

Was there anything in the divorce decree about debts?

If he took his debt and you took yours, it could be that his child's medical bills would be his responsibility after the divorce?

Either way, letting the statute of limitations expire if it's close and you haven't been sued is the best thing. Maybe it has already as mentioned above.

Creditors are not bound by divorce decrees because they were are 3rd parties who had no influence on them. Even if the father was responsible according to the divorce decree, the OP would have to pay the bill and sue him and he has no assets or income that is attachable in a lawsuit. The worse the judge can do regarding the decree is throw the father in jail for contempt and then what?