<prompt> Human: Im not sure where to start or how to even go about asking for advice on here, but this is my last resort in an attempt to figure out what to do. My aunt has terminal cancer aggressive lymphoma with brain and central nervous system involvement that will not go away and keeps resurfacing in various parts of her body including her heart and adrenals. She is having some pretty severe cognitive issues that may or may not be a result from the cancer andor therapies her oncologists are utilizing. I was recently asked to become her Power of Attorney and have been given all rights to handle her finances. This is the gist of it: She has about 88k in credit card debt, not including a 39k HELOC. She doesnt have a mortgage and lives in a condo. She is currently on payment assistance for her HELOC, but that is ending in December and we will have to start paying about 455 per month on it. She is currently receiving long term disability from her employer and SSDI.She is a widow and has no children. Her car is paid for, but she does have an extended warranty through December of this year, I believe. She does have a small amount of money in a Rollover IRA she had been pulling money from her company 401k for reasons Im not entirely sure ofThe issue Im running into is three-fold. 1. Her credit card bills monthly minimums total about half of her monthly income. I have attempted to contact her creditors to see if there is anything we can do to get her payments fixed or reduced but Ive hit nothing but dead ends. 2. She requires home health care that isnt covered by her insurance. She is currently paying for these costs out of pocket. She is, fortunately, on a payment plan at the center she receives chemotherapy from. 3. After paying her monthly fixed expenses HOA fee, insurance, gas, electric we are at about a 500 deficit monthly. This deficit will increase, however, because as I mentioned earlier she has been pulling money out of her 401k at 20 interest in order to pay bills and have some money in her accounts in case of an emergency. This money has been used to pay bills and is quickly dwindling. We have spoken to a lawyer and she makes too much money to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I spoke with a debt management company at the suggestion of one of her creditors and they want entirely too much money to consolidate and pay down her unsecured debt. I have absolutely no clue how she got into this situation aside from living well beyond her means. She was an international systems accountant for a large corporation for the better part of 25 years and used to make over 115,000 per year. The messed up thing now is that she has just about nothing to show for it. I dont know how to free up any money for care giving costs that are only getting more expensive as time progresses. Im not sure what to do about the credit card debt and Im not sure she will qualify for financial assistance on a HELOC since she makes too much money per month. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do, I would be so grateful. My ultimate goals for her are:1. Figure out the best course of action for all of this unsecured debt. 2. Let her live the rest of her life however long that may be without all of this on her shoulders. Her financial situation weighs heavily on her and its the last thing she needs given her medical condition. She is aware that she got herself into this mess but doesnt know how to get out of it. EDIT:I wasnt expecting such a response, and Im so very grateful for the responses and information. My next step will be to contact a lawyer to determine the best way to proceed. I will try to respond individually to questions and to those I have additional questions for.  <response>: All youve really mentioned is how much debt she has 88K CC 39K HELOC 127K and how much she used to make. 1. What does she make now? net after tax2. What is the value of the assets? condo, car, etc You said she was mortgage-free.3. Any pensions with a commutable value? If shes drawing income from them already then I doubt it but might as well ask. The big question has already been mentioned by swalsh411 - how long does she have? Any decisions needs to be built around this. You have to decided which of two avenues to take:A - reduce debts requires liquidating assets to do thisB - reduce debt payments may not require liquidating assets but perhaps moving the debt around or refinancing. You need to be aware of what debt can be wiped out yes, some can and what debt will need to be paid back from the estate proceeds after passing. Hope this helps. Good luck, youve got your work cut out on this one. 