The Clinical Guide to Supportive and Palliative Care for HIV/AIDS

A Clinical Guide to Supportive and Palliative Care for HIV/AIDS • Chapter 18: Legal and Financial Issues4. Dealing with Debts and CreditorsMany people living with HIV need assistance dealing with creditors and deciding how best tohandle accumulated debt. Often people living with HIV are worried about mounting debt levelsand assume that there is no solution to protect them from financial ruin and from the incessantbarrage of threatening letters and phone calls from creditors. In fact, several options exist andattorneys and/or debt counselors can provide many services to assist persons living with HIV inaddressing their debt issues.Under many State fair debt collection laws, notification of representation by an attorney barscreditors from further collection efforts aimed directly at debtors. In effect, the first step takencan often eliminate threatening letters and phone calls.Next, an assessment of the persons debts and the potential for at least partial repayment mustbe evaluated. While many debts can easily be forgiven, through a discharge by creditors orthrough the courts, some types of debt are very difficult to discharge. Discharging outstandingstudent loans and Federal, State and local tax debts is quite difficult. Also, secured debts,where the creditor owns an interest in the property held by the creditor, such as car loans andhome mortgages, will generally result in loss of the secured property. Credit card debts, on theother hand, are generally easily dischargeable.With this in mind several courses of action can be taken. Many disabled individuals, particularlythose who are not earning income, who have limited assets and who are dependent on needbasedpublic benefits (i.e., SSI, TANF), are effectively “judgment proof.” Often, simply contactingcreditors and informing them of this situation will result in a disability-related discharge orforgiveness of the debt. In other cases, when a person’s assets or income are too high, or whena creditor refuses to forgive the debt, personal bankruptcy may be the best option.An attorney can assist a person living with HIV in negotiating with creditors or filing a personalbankruptcy petition. The filing fee for a personal bankruptcy petition in the bankruptcy court is$200, and ironically it is one of the filing fees that the court will not waive. In most cases,through a bankruptcy court proceeding, a bankruptcy court judge will discharge the debts of adisabled person living with HIV. Most bankruptcy judges, however, will allow the debtor to paythe filing fee in periodic installments upon request.PART 4.PERMANENCY PLANNING:SECURING THE FUTURE OF AFFECTED CHILDRENThere may be no more sensitive issue for parents living with HIV than how to plan for the futureof their minor children. No parent wants to contemplate a time when she may become unavailableto care for her children. Indeed, parents living with HIV often resist permanency planning fortheir children because it is overwhelming to think about someone else raising their childrenand also because of a lack of information about parent-friendly planning options.In addition, some parents living with HIV may have minor children who are HIV-positive. Whenchildren also have HIV, the permanency planning must take into account the ability of theproposed guardian(s) to meet each child’s specialized medical, social, and emotional needs.382U.S. Department of Health and Human Services • Health Resources and Services Administration • HIV/AIDS Bureau