Will My Medical Debt Affect My Bankruptcy? Anyone who has experienced a serious medical problem knows that the medical charges can be insurmountable. This is especially the case for families that are barely meeting their current monthly expenses. It’s nearly impossible for such a family to be able to manage thousands of dollars in medical debt. This is one of the most common reasons for a person to consider bankruptcy. Those medical debts left unpaid ....
could eventually result in a legal judgment against you and then turn into a garnishment. The last thing that a family that is barely getting by wants, is a garnishment which will mean even less money that they will have to cover their basic household necessities. Filing a bankruptcy will protect you from any medical collections. At the end of your bankruptcy you will no longer be responsible for that debt.
If you file a bankruptcy as an individual but you are married, then your spouse will still be responsible for any debt that they owe on their own and any debt that you owe together. A joint debt that is quite often not considered is medical debt. Any medical debt incurred by the spouse that filed a bankruptcy or any medical debt of a minor child would still be the responsibility of the non-filing spouse if the medical debt was incurred while they were married. It doesn’t matter whether or not the non-filing spouse was present at the time the medical debt was incurred. For example, if a husband takes a minor child to the emergency room without the wife even knowing about it, the wife is still responsible for the debt. Of course, if both spouses file a bankruptcy then the medical debt could no longer be collected by either of the spouses.