Can I be sued for unpaid medical bills if I only get disability?

In addition to the fine answer you received from my esteemed colleague, I offer the following information, which applies to Social Security disability benefits. Other types of disability benefits may or may not be as well protected. If a creditor other than the federal government tries to garnish your Social Security benefits, inform them that such an action violates Section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407). NOTE: SSI disability payments are not subject to garnishment. Section 207 bars garnishment of your benefits. It can also be used as a defense if your benefits are incorrectly garnished. SSA has responsibility for protecting benefits against garnishment, assignments and other legal processes usually ends when the beneficiary is paid. However, once paid, benefits continue to be protected under section 207 of Act as long as they are identifiable as Social Security benefits. However, the creditor may go after your bank account or other assets. You may lose the federal Social Security protection if you co-mingle your SSA money with other monies. Check with an attorney in your state. Effective May 1, 2011, a new Federal regulation requires that banks which receive a garnishment order for an account into which Social Security, VA, Railroad Retirement, or Federal pensions have been deposited, must look more closely before honoring the garnishment order. The bank has to figure out the sum of such Federal benefit payments that have been deposited to the account during a two month period, and must ensure that the account holder has access to an amount equal to that sum or to the current balance of the account, whichever is lower. Under this new regulation, you do not forfeit your protection from garnishment by mingling your Federal checks with other money -- but there are limits on the amount of money in your account that's protected from garnishment. Only 2 months worth of benefits are protected. Additionally, don't transfer benefits to another account or else the protection is void. Federal law says that many Federal benefit payments like Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, Veteran’s benefits, Railroad Retirement benefits, and benefits from the Office of Personnel Management are not subject to garnishment in most cases. This means that these funds are exempt. Your bank may be required to automatically protect some of your Federal benefits if they are direct deposited into your bank account and you may be able to stop your creditors from taking other exempt funds from your bank account.

If you have no attachable assets and your only income is from disability, then you are considered "judgment proof." Unfortunately the term is a bit misleading because creditors can still get a judgment against you for the debt. However, they cannot collect on the judgment. Thus, merely being judgment proof does not dismiss your case. One alternative you can try is to contact the creditor and let them know of your situation and that it would be a waste of time to seek a judgment against you because they cannot collect. Many individuals who are judgment proof question the point of going to a judgment hearing since the court is going to grant the judgment anyway. However, it is better to be involved in the process and protect your rights as much as possible as opposed to not doing anything. Attached is an article addressing what you need to do if you are being sued and you are judgment proof.

Creditors can always sue you & your inability to pay or the fact that you are "judgment proof" & have no assets available to attach isn't a legal defense to the lawsuit. For your own protection, you should avoid "co-mingling" money in your bank account from disability with your money from any other source. In some instances, adding deposits from a source that can't be traced to your disability could wipe out the protection the law provides for this benefit. Hope this perspective helps!

In Indiana, if you own real estate or have other "non-exempt" property, the creditor can get a lien attached.