Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

With some exceptions, his debts will be paid from the estate. We don't know exactly the type of deed. If your dad is still of sound mind, he needs to go see an estate planning lawyer ASAP (or a lawyer will likely go to him). These are issues that should be planned well in advance of the person getting sick, or dying suddenly. It may or may not be too late to properly handle some things, but after he is gone, or if he is no long of sound mind, it is too late. Many family go through a lot of problems because they did not do proper planning. People post here almost every day with problems that arise from the failure to plan - usually it is the family posting after a parent died and they are finding out too late that there was no planning. Call estate planning lawyers, or elder care lawyers, in your area today.

When you say that your father and his wife own the home, do they live in GA? Do they own the home (if they live in GA) as joint tenants with right of suvivorship? If they live in another state, do they own the home as tenants by the entirety?

Under either case, the home should pass to the wife upon the death of your father. However, the estate of your father will be responsible for the medical bills. The problem is that if there are few probate assets, some states provide that a wife is liable for the medical expenses under the doctrine of necessaries. GA has abolished this doctrine.

Just paying a small amount does not protect the wife if the wife can legally be sued and is responsible for the debts. However, I agree with Attorney Riddle. The time for estate planning is not after a person has died. Its before they die. If your father, despite his illness, is mentally competent, he and his wife need to meet with an estate planning attorney now to ensure that things are handled properly and that there will be little to nothing to probate and that insofar as possible, there will be few medical bills.