Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: medical bills

I think this is actually a question for a Florida

attorney. And, believe me, it is not easy to

know which State's law may answer some, all, or

none of a question, so it is good to ask.

But, here, the reason why I think that this is

a Florida question is because I think it depends

on whether the sale of the house is community

property so that your mother automatically owns

half (regardless of the deed) or whether the

deed itself controls the answer.

Is the house automatically considered 1/2 your mother's even though she is not on the deed? I think that is the key question.

(And note that selling the house could make things worse. If the house itself is not 1/2 your mother's, by converting it into cash, the CASH might become community property. Your father might want to explore a "reverse mortgage" which takes out money without selling the house to minimize this problem.)

You say that your mother moved back to Virginia,

but your father is selling a house in Florida.

Therefore, I am GUESSING here that your father

is probably still a citizen of Florida (lagging behind, still down there, cleaning things up).

Again, it is not easy at all to decide what

State someone is actually a citizen of, when

people are moving around. For example, if I

live in Virginia but go look after my parents for a year in Idaho, I have NOT changed citizenship , because I temporarily visited them in another State, without the intention to make a permanent change. A student can go away to college for 4 years intending to return home, and never change citizenship in their home state.

Therefore, if your mother comes to a hospital in VA, this does NOT tell us for certain if she has changed citizenship to VA. The SSA can hold a hearing up here for convenience regardless of citizenship in FL vs. VA. The question would be whether your mother INTENDED to come up here for care (family & hospital) or INTENDED to permanently abandon FL.

Then there is your father. If he is lagging behind, it is even less clear if he has officially changed citizenship.

As a result, does Florida law or Virginia law decide if your mother owns 1/2 of the house in Florida? Frankly, I don't know which one is better for you, and you should figure that out before staking out any positions. (I don't mean to be dishonest, but often there are shades of gray and you might legitmately argue either side.)

ALSO... did your father own the house BEFORE they got married? That could also make a big difference. It would be less likely to be community property then. Also, where did the money come from to buy the house? One could say that the house was purchased with marital money.

My SPECULATION without knowing more would be that your father should take out a "reverse mortgage" and NOT sell the house, as the cash proceeds would probably be considered 1/2 your mothers'.