Short version: Are the heirs required to pay for their parent's medical expenses after they die?
Longer summary:
In late 2014, both of my parents were admitted to a Skilled Nursing Facility, for different medical reasons.
Medicare covered some of their stays, their insurance (GEHA) may have covered some of it, and my parents paid out of pocket. (I know this, because I fronted them the money to cover these bills.)
They were both discharged in January of 2015 and Mom died soon after, in February, 2015. Dad died in March of 2016.
After several requests for detailed billing information, in August 2015 we received a $1400 refund for "overpayment" check from the SNF, with no details. ($400 for Mom and $1000 for Dad.)
The week after Dad died, in March of 2016, we received a demand letter from the SNF for my Mom in the amount of $4700 that was "Past Due", with no details. Of course it included the standard threat to take us to collections if payment was not received. We didn't pay it, as they'd already sent us a refund for overpayment. We did inform the SNF of my parent's deaths.
A year later, on May 18, 2017 (my mother's birthday, ouch) we got another demand letter from the SNF. This time it was for my Dad in the "past due" amount of $9500, with all the same threats.
All of my parent's assets went into a Trust and my brother and I are Co-Trustees & Co-Executors. We're working on settling the (small-ish) estate complete with other sibling drama worthy of the Inheritance Thread.
Our question for you fine folks is this: Are we obligated to pay these amounts? Where do we look for guidance? We don't want to spend what's left on attorney's fees, because the pile's not that big and there six kids and taxes owed. Their money was mostly in IRA's and they had no pass through provision, which another huge headache.
This is kind of a bare-bones outline. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to provide as much detail as I can. Oh, and they lived in CA and created their Will and Trust there, but Dad died in AZ, where he lived the last year of his life with my Co-Trustee brother.
I want to emphasize that we are willing to pay what is legitimately owed, but this facility's accounting practices are so opaque, that we feel they're trying to pull some funny stuff. Demand letters with no itemization of services rendered long after my parents are dead and "overpayments" are refunded? Sounds fishy to us.
Heaps of gratitude in advance to anyone who can help us solve this conundrum.