Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
My wife last year was psychologically ill. She then signed up for a digital satellite TV service around April of 2010. We then separated. My wife was in the hospital for several weeks on legal holds. I told the satellite company that I will pay the bill but I do not assume liability for her debt, and I can stop paying at any time if I decide that I don't like the service. Around Dec 2010 I stopped paying for my wife's Sat TV service.
The bill collectors are now constantly contacting us, and I told them that I believe my wife is legally exempt from contract obligations made during the time she was very ill.
Is it true that she may be able to renounce her contract because of her illness?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Not all mental illness makes one not responsible for their obligations incurred while ill. You would need a determination that she was mentally incompetent to enter into a contract when she signed up. The details of the law and mental health medicine of that determination are quite complex, but essentially it is a question of whether or not she was able to understand what she was doing and what it meant, and whether she was able to form the mental intent to enter into that agreement. If so, it's binding.
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