The "weight" in the situation is good ol' fashioned incentive. The patient in question is dead, and the estate attorney is wrapping up business. After a certain

The "weight" in the situation is good ol' fashioned incentive. The patient in question is dead, and the estate attorney is wrapping up business. After a certain date, there won't be an entity to collect from. Relatives of the deceased are not liable for medical debts (that doesn't mean the medical provider won't try to collect it from relatives, though). So the medical provider faces two distinct choices: A.) Get their act together and get paid a guaranteed sum from an estate that has been established by a professional entity B.) Hem and haw, miss the boat, and try to collect from an estate that's run dry because the money has been dispersed to relatives and/or try to goad relatives into paying. Sometimes, those relatives don't exist.