AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — Terry Crabtree still can’t believe she opened her mailbox to find a letter demanding payment for her ex-husband’s medical bills.

“He’s not alive, he’s dead,” she exclaimed.

The letter was issued by the Colorado Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program, but did not specify the amount owed. Crabtree said her house was in her daughter’s name.

“They’re going to take the trailer and all the furniture,” she said.

Crabtree thought she might be the target of a scam. Troubleshooters checked it out and found the letter to be genuine.

According to the Medicaid Estate Recovery guidelines, “Under certain conditions, money remaining in a trust after the death of a Medicaid enrollee may be used to repay Medicaid. States cannot recover the estate of a deceased enrollee to Medicaid that is survived by a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child of any age.

For more information, visit the Medicaid.gov website.

The guidelines also state that states are required to establish procedures for waiving estate recovery in situations where doing so would cause undue hardship.

The Problem Solvers spoke to officials who said they were contacting Crabtree and personally looking into his case.