Legal Question in Consumer Law in New Jersey

Re: Surviving Spouse Responsibilities

You have a legal responsibility to care for your spouse and your children. Therefore, absent a waiver on the part of the creditor, you are responsible for their medical bills if those bills are for services necessary for health. (As opposed, e.g. to cosmetic surgery.) You also have the same defenses as you deceased spouse. Noteably, you may find bills for services that were not necessary or did not contribute to health or prevention of disease in the accepted medical sense. You are not responsible for these. Also, if you investigate carefully, you may find that the amounts on the statements to you are far in excess as the same services would have been billed to insurance companies. The service-provider may tell you that you have to pay the billed amount but they will rarely go to court over it. So, there is room for a good negotiator to get the bills discounted.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm