What if you go to court but don't have money to pay?

Hi everyone! Really informative site. My question is for my dad in Texas. He is elderly and on a fixed income (SS#). He has no assets and no property. He has 3 credit card companies that did him dirty last year and jacked up rates and now he owes about $9k on each. One or all are threatening to take him to court. Given his age and inability to pay he just wants to walk away from it as they rejected all his attempts to create a payment plan when it was all happening. Now they are offering settlements but he doesn't have money for that either. If they take him to court, what is likely to happen? And how likely are they to take him to court after sending letters threatening such? Thank you so much in advance.