Monday, April 26, 2010

I'm so going to Hell

So, I'm sending out demand letters this morning when I notice that one of them is being sent to this guy's estate, care of his father.  I got curious about how that could be the case, so I did some Googling.  If you're imagining the worst possible scenario, you would be correct.

This man's son was 30 years old and died in December.  When is he delinquent since?  December.  It's now April and I'm sending collection notices TO HIS FATHER.

I don't know what the time period should be for when it's appropriate to send a collection notice to a guy's dad, but I'm pretty sure it's longer than four months.  I just want to call this guy up and apologize on behalf of myself and everyone involved.  Instead, I'm the asshole sending him a collections notice. 

This is why people hate lawyers.

3 comments:

  1. Don't worry about going to Hell, as Mark Twain said go to Heaven for the climate and Hell for the company. I'll see you there and maybe we can talk about "policy."

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  2. What are you collecting on? I thought most debts discharge on death, and regardless a parent isn't going to be liable.

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  3. What is to feel bad about? If the guy left unpaid debts and he had an estate, his estate becomes liable for the debts, with a few exceptions of course. You are sending a collection notice to his dad as representative of the estate. The dad is not liable for it. The estate is. As for timing of the notices, your state likely has laws on the books providing for applicable time periods to serve an estate with notice of outstanding debts. Failure to follow these rules as a creditor could bar the claim.

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