- Question on liability to pay for spouse's debt?

Question on liability to pay for spouse's debt?

Written by Wilfred Ling

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Hi Wilfred,

I was hoping that I could seek your opinion in paying off debt. Specifically, are spouses legally liable to pay for each other debt?

I can give you example. Suppose there is a married couple on a rocky relationship. One partner, say the husband is what you might call "financially irresponsible" - doesn't save for retirement, no emergency fund, doesn't want to buy insurance, lives paycheck to paycheck, etc... The other partner, the wife is more financially responsible - saves regularly, buy proper healthcare insurance, etc... The irresponsible partner was then hospitalized and a six-figure hospital bill comes out of it. If the wife chooses to pay for her husband, she will be using up all her retirement money and so she decides not to pay for his bills. Can the hospital legally go after the wife in such a scenario and demand that she pay for her partner's debt?

Answer:

For your example, as long as she did not act as a guarantor for her husband's debt, she should not be responsible for his debt. During hospitalization, there is an indemnity form being presented. Never sign on the indemnity form as the person who signs on it becomes the guarantor of any debts incurred during hospitalization. For some strange reason it is always available but I was told by the hospital staff never to sign on it.

But it also depends on who is the creditor. Ah-long use all methods to get back their money including harassing anyone in the family. In this case, the surviving spouse and children are responsible for the money borrowed from ah-longs.

Wilfred

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Anonymous

|220.255.2.44 |2011-08-24 14:53:02

Won't the hospital refuse to admit the patient if nobody signs the indemnity form? Especially for private hospitals or even A and B1 wards in govt hospitals.