This is an option, primarily for elderly clients, but it can be for anyone with a fixed income, like Social Security or Social Security disability or with income which is exempt from garnishment (see my articles on exemptions).  The individuals who choose this option should be at a stage of their lives where they will not need credit (like a car loan or a mortgage) and they should have few, if any, assets.  The assets that they do own should be owned as a tenancy-by-the-entireties or joint-tenancy with right-of-survivorship (if land), only one of the spouses should be a debtor and the debt should be for a credit card or unsecured personal loan that is in the name of the debtor spouse.  It does not work for things like medical debts, which are necessaries and for which the non-debtor spouse and/or the children might be deemed liable. To provide an example, an elderly person lives in an apartment, has no car and has credit card debt.  The person will not need to obtain credit in the future.  The person only gets income from Social Security.  Such a person may be a candidate for simply doing nothing about his or her credit card or other unsecured loan debt.

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