Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Dear LawGuru Team,
back 9 and 1/2 years ago my grandmother had a health issuse and ended up in the hospital she is an older women who lives out of a very low pension that is give to her by the social securty worked by her husnad and the minimum payment according to the hospiltal clerk need to be of $150 per month, but as you can tell she has no way to pay that amount of maoney. In the 9 and 1/2 years she has been very good with her payments and never given one late payment but she only sends $40 per month and a cople of other times when every she can she sends more but never less. So my question is what can be done because that bill extendes to over $20,000 and her citizenship in the USA can be affected if it is send to collection so what can she do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Not paying this bill will not affect her citizenship. If she were to stop paying the only thing that would happen is she would get lots of phone calls. They can't take her social security. She could file for bankruptcy and then the bills and phone calls would stop.
She just needs to stop paying since it is obvious she cannot afford that debt. She can file for bankruptcy and put it all to rest quickly or put up with phone calls from the collection agency (although she can send a letter via certified mail telling the hospital or collection agency to only contact her via US mail or change the phone number.) I doubt she will be sued and even if she does the judgment will be worthless since she is judgment proof because her social security benefits cannot be taken. Debts have nothing to do with immigration or naturalization (citizenship). Bankruptcy will not affect her immigration status nor her ability to become a citizen through naturalization. Only receiving public assistance in the form of cash payments or sevices can affect someone's ability to obtain permanent residence (a green card) or becoming a citizen. Social security retirement or disability benefits based on someone's work credits is not a public benefit. It is an entitlement. Bankruptcy is a legal right under federal law regardless of
immigration or citizenship status.
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