I am very sorry for your late friend and for you having to go through this. I worked with an estate lawyer and appeared many times in Surrogates Court.

I'm guessing your friend died intestate?

I understand you have filed to become executor, but if you have not been approved yet I would suggest you do not negotiate or spend a single penny on behalf of the estate.

Keep all your receipts and records for anything that has been spent thus far.

Your liability as executor is very limited as long as you follow the rules.

Call the Lawyers Referral Service. Explain to them the estate is very modest, you as executor are also of modest means and ask if there is a service or law firm that will offer consultation or appearance pro bono.

Dude you're smarter than this. Get an estate lawyer before you do anything else. Honestly surprised to see you doing anything other than this.

I'm sorry for your loss and what you are going through.

This is not unique to UVMMC. This is a nationwide issue that shouldn't be an issue in the first place and wouldn't be with a single payer system. Also this particular scenario has a lot of legal nuance that cannot really be portrayed well here.

So again I feel for you and what you're going through, but I don't agree with placing the blame for this issue on the UVMMC billing department. They are telling you what they can/have to do from their one tiny piece of this absurdly complex puzzle.

You need an estate lawyer. End of story.

BIL lol

Tell them to resubmit the claim to medicaid

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> They can't collect money from a dead man if he had no liquid assets at death

he had money when he died.

Yeah I wanted to hire a lawyer - Ouimett and Rumsey was great when my dad died, but they had no interest taking on this estate and told me to do it myself. SO now we're here.

He absolutely does not have to, but not wanting to this strongly is uh... odd. Especially if this person is going to be in his child's life.

I'd encourage him to put the past behind him and move forward in a healthier manner. If they can all find a way to be cordial, that's going to be the best possible outcome for the kids. Tell him he can hate them all he wants on his own time, but he's a big boy now and needs to figure out how to drop whatever he is stuck on. I recognize I'm being harsh towards him and this could also easily be an issue on the other side as well, I don't know the situation. I just know it's best for the kids if ALL the adults could figure out how to grow up a bit and move forward.

This is why you need a lawyer. They should have made all claims within a specified time. If they missed that gate, they are sol. If you made promises, then you are on the hook.

https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/066/01203

It's not a law, and if it is it's dumb and no one follows it.

That said, MANY parents choose to put a clause in their divorce agreement saying that they will give an opportunity to the other parent to meet a new significant other BEFORE the children meet them. But this is usually a mutual respect thing and something done when EVERYONE'S focus is on what is best for the kids involved. This does not work and would be dangerous in abusive or unstable situations, hence the reason I'm sure it can't possibly be a law.

The hospital should be going after the Medicaid, but it’s easier for them to go after an individual because individuals typically cannot afford a decent lawyer.

That is some seriously insane mental gymnastics

> Then get a lawyer.

I tried - Ouimette and runcie wouldn't work with me on this one. They were great for my father's estate, but because this guy died poor with no real physical assets - I think they wanted nothing to do with it.

> Executors have limited liability

yes and in the case I might be liable. however their filing being nearly 2 years after his death at the brink of closing out the estate is bad form on their behalf.

I never liked UVM med. charging someone $400 for a wheel chair rental for an hour is fucking stupid.

> Don't pay it.

I am waiting to see here what happens with medicaid, they were supposed to pay the bill 2 years ago.

I am the executor. I might be liable cause I fucked up some shit with the estate. The deceased owes me A LOT of money for damages to the dwelling, cig smoke, broken flooring, improper shower install, and also dying on the floor. So I need to recoup those costs in their entirety.

as it stands, I have paid for his cremation, funeral, and other stuff, I have been reimbursed. But the house stuff I cant shake on. Medicaid failed to pay this bill when he was alive and it might be passed the window for it to be paid off via medicaid. So this is a fun situation.

Then get a lawyer. Executors have limited liability, but if you don’t know the line, the billers will keep pushing you over it.

The comments here definitely represent the vagaries of the human condition! We Got All Kinds Here! It’s actually pretty typical for people to consider things idyllic before they are disabused of their fanciful notions. Sure sounds like every concept of Vermont living I know about. (Remoteness, off-grid, wood heat, et al) I have not sugared but it doesn’t surprise me customers don’t want to know How The Sausage(/Syrup) Is Made. Similarly no one wants to think about huge sewage lagoons and the most dangerous jobs people do cleaning out the pits in order to get their tasty tasty mega-ag / corporate bacon. We all hold these hypocrisies/contradictions (sometimes mitigated by eating locally/small-batch but still)

False dichotomies won’t help you! Even tho it has been a while since I scienced formally, does the dosage still makes the poison? “Danger” is relative (“potential danger” is still infuriatingly redundant) and we may never know the temperature or levels at which a rodent may decompose enough to be fatal right? Who wants to propose to UVM’s budding crop of food scientists that they study the issue? Will Big Maple get in the way? #ProctorGate!

The nature of what constitutes “gross” or “creepy” is a land-mine-riddled field. Is a cold freshly-dead rat in a sap bucket grosser than hair jewelry? How about “death masks” or “extreme embalming,” where bodies are posed? How about the ‘delicacy’ of casu martzu? Lutefisk, mummy dust tinctures? Lotsa gross out there. Some folks even allow their pets to lick and kiss them when the pets eats shit! All relative.

> You aren’t the executor of his estate.

yes I am. I was given permission from his family and filed the paper work with the courts. I am Executor and Fiduciary.

Don't pay it. They can't collect money from a dead man if he had no liquid assets at death its pretty hard for them to go after that money.

EDIT: to add to this unless your a spouse debts don't really transfer. It is the job of the estate to pay for it. Of he didn't have much in his estate the hospital gets jack shit.

I didn't think it could possibly be a law (Google didn't help and I'm not about to read through the entire library of VT law on divorce). The weird thing is that my BIL says he doesn't WANT to meet the BF, but he HAS to. My BIL is kinda crazy though, lol.

lmfao no this isnt a thing 😂😂

dude man probably just wants to smack the BF around (not cool)

Are you sure you are the executor of his estate? Don’t commit to anything. Even if his family promises the world, unless it’s in writing and notarized, it’s worthless. Roommates have no legal authority over someone else’s assets.

Edit: The executor can be anyone over 18 who isn’t a felon, but it’s typically a lawyer, accountant or family member. Frankly, I’d get a lawyer involved because you shouldn’t be left holding the bag for anything beyond his assets.

Your comment implies that too many people are moving here, and that is just not happening. Vermont's population has grown 5% since 2000. From the census, the population is now 645,570. In 2000, it was 609,618.

(645,570 - 609,618) / 645,570 = 5.6%

Our population growth in the last year, according to the census, is less than 100 people.

Compare that to the 15% growth in that same time period of the US as a whole, and it'll be pretty obvious that the problem isn't that we're attracting too many people. To be clear, I'm not arguing that we should attract more people, but the problems we have now are not because tons of people are moving here, and until we stop blaming "out of staters" for everything, we'll never solve them.

That sounds extremely reasonable. I paid 3400 for a local (West Leb) moving company just from Essex County, MA to WRJ. Quotes for a 2000 sq ft house MA --> VT ranged from $3400 - $8000. And we don't even have that much stuff.

Home prices are through the roof all over the world, not just in Vermont. There are exceptions, but in general, home prices are up. They're up in places that are building a lot or not at all. They're up in places with a lot of regulation and less regulation, in warm climates and cold climates, in cities and rural towns. They're up in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

Something is off, but it's not the census numbers. It's way bigger than out of staters moving to Vermont, which, again, is not happening.