<prompt> Human: This is foreign to me. I have have always been very good with money and am very solvent. The total debt is just under 10k. According to her Credit Karma account, all of them have gone to collections. She is getting her life restarted and effectively has no income now other than some alimony and food stamps and no assets to speak of. Her credit score is 516.About half of the debt is medical bills from two ER visits. They were around five years ago. I understand that hospitals will negotiate and maybe even write it all off. True? How to do this?The other half is two or three credit cards that she hasnt paid in three years. Can that be negotiated?Should I assume that the debt is sold? Is it a bad idea to contact anyone? Will the debt expire after a certain amount of time? Does BK make sense?Thanks in advance for all of the help. I hope that I am even asking the right questions.  <response>: This is not a relationship sub, but as someone whos seen this sort of thing go bad very often, Id be very cautious about bailing otu a partner youre not married to, and who has a history of financial instability. Of course good people make mistakes, but please think long and hard before you make any decisions you regret, to echo another poster. 