Vaidik, J.
Case Summary
According to the doctrine of necessaries, each spouse is primarily liable for his or her independent debts. To the extent that the debtor spouse is unable to satisfy his or her own necessary expenses, the law will impose limited secondary liability upon the financially superior spouse by means of the doctrine of necessaries.
In this case, Marianne Combs, a Medicaid recipient, died in a nursing home, but no estate was opened for her. The nursing home did not open a creditor’s estate for Marianne in order to preserve its claim. When Marianne’s spouse died a little over a year later, the nursing home filed a claim for her expenses against his estate. We find that according to the doctrine of necessaries, a creditor must first seek satisfaction from the income and property of the spouse who incurred the debt and only if those resources are insufficient may a creditor seek satisfaction from the non-contracting spouse.
….
We disagree and find that Hickory Creek was first required to file a claim against Marianne to determine whether she was unable to satisfy her obligations. And because Marianne had passed away and no estate was opened for her, this meant that Hickory Creek, as a creditor, should have opened an estate for her, which it was permitted to do as an interested person. See Ind. Code §§ 29-1-1-3, 29-1-7-4. However, Hickory Creek did not do so. And now, it cannot do so because the time has passed. See Ind. Code § 29-1-14-1 (non-claim statute which provides that claims against a decedent’s estate shall be “forever barred” unless filed against the estate within three months after the date of the first published notice to creditors or within nine months after the decedent’s death); Appellant’s Br. p. 8-9 & Reply Br. p. 5 (Hickory Creek conceding that Indiana law bars a claim against Marianne’s estate at this point).
Nevertheless, Hickory Creek claims that requiring it to open an estate for Marianne, a Medicaid recipient, would “inundate the court system with unnecessary filings” and “does not make sense from a public policy standpoint to force nursing homes to preserve their claim in an estate, by filing a fruitless petition to open an estate and subsequently close it, once it is shown the decedent had no money.” Appellant’s Reply Br. p. 8. But as noted by the Court in Bartrom, there could be newly discovered assets. And regardless, although this case involves an estate, it does not mean that all cases involving the doctrine of necessaries will; the doctrine applies to living spouses, divorcing spouses, nursing-home expenses, and medical expenses. Policy cannot be based solely on a deceased Medicaid recipient in a nursing home. The doctrine of necessaries is based on the concept that the non-contracting spouse is liable only to the extent that the debtor spouse is unable to satisfy his or her own personal needs or obligations. Accordingly, because Hickory Creek did not first pursue Marianne, the trial court did not err in denying Hickory Creek’s claim against Otto’s Estate. [Footnote omitted.]
Affirmed.
KIRSCH, J., and PYLE, J., concur.