Boomers could get caught by laws already on books in thirty states
Did you know you could be responsible for your parents' unpaid bills? Thirty states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves. While these laws are rarely enforced, there has been speculation that states may begin dusting them off as a way to save on Medicaid expenses.
These laws, called filial responsibility laws, obligate adult children to provide necessities like food, clothing, housing, and medical attention for their indigent parents.
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative research organization, 21 states allow a civil court action to obtain financial support or cost recovery, 12 states impose criminal penalties on children who do not support their parents, and three states allow both civil and criminal actions.
The passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid, which means there may be more elderly individuals in nursing homes with no ability to pay for care. In response, nursing homes may use the filial responsibility laws as a way to get care paid for.
Full Article and Source:
States May Take New Look at Requiring Adult Children to Pay for Aging Parents
More information:
States With Filial Responsibility Laws
Adult Children Could Be on Hook for Parents' Nursing Home Bills
Group Claims Filial Responsibility Laws Will Save on Medicaid Costs
Taking Care of Our Caretakers: Using Filial Responsibility Laws to Support the Elderly Beyond the Government’s Assistance
Adult Children, Aging Parents and the Law
Did you know you could be responsible for your parents' unpaid bills? Thirty states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves. While these laws are rarely enforced, there has been speculation that states may begin dusting them off as a way to save on Medicaid expenses.
These laws, called filial responsibility laws, obligate adult children to provide necessities like food, clothing, housing, and medical attention for their indigent parents.
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative research organization, 21 states allow a civil court action to obtain financial support or cost recovery, 12 states impose criminal penalties on children who do not support their parents, and three states allow both civil and criminal actions.
The passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid, which means there may be more elderly individuals in nursing homes with no ability to pay for care. In response, nursing homes may use the filial responsibility laws as a way to get care paid for.
Full Article and Source:
States May Take New Look at Requiring Adult Children to Pay for Aging Parents
More information:
States With Filial Responsibility Laws
Adult Children Could Be on Hook for Parents' Nursing Home Bills
Group Claims Filial Responsibility Laws Will Save on Medicaid Costs
Taking Care of Our Caretakers: Using Filial Responsibility Laws to Support the Elderly Beyond the Government’s Assistance
Adult Children, Aging Parents and the Law
In other words, guardians can purposely not pay the taxes - or nursing home bils, etc - while bleeding the estate dry.
ReplyDeleteAnd then who picks up the tab?
You guessed it!
This would not work in most cases. Parents putting children through college could not bear long term care expense. Would they be forced into bankruptcy?
ReplyDeleteEven the seniors would not like this after years of independence.
The insurance industry will be happily pushing long term care insurance.
In many cultures, ie, Asian and Native American this would not be necessary. Elder care and responsibility is natural.
The trend in this country is to move all elders into long term cares in the "golden years".
STAY HEALTHY!
A guardian's dream!
ReplyDeleteWell, you can bet nursing homes are partially behind this for one.
ReplyDeleteIf this becomes reality, the mainstream media might be "forced" to cover the issue of guardianship abuse.
ReplyDeleteNO! I did not know about Filial Responsibility Laws until now.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, what a wake up call for the baby boomers who are thinking how to provide and take care of themselves in their old age, instead it might be that they will need to financially support and provide for their parents when and if they run out of money.
Why is this not in the mainstream news?
Why isn't this headline new in the newspapers?
Is this meant to be a surprise attack, to catch millions off guard?
Does this mean I need to sit down with mom and dad, today, and tell them to stop spending money on anything that is not absolutely needed for their survival - immediately?
Stop buying anything that is considered a luxury ie snack crackers, chips, cheetos, adult beverages and to quit playing BINGO and give up buying lottery tickets and please no more pets?
I understand the importance of taking care of mom and dad but I think it would be a great idea if we had knowledge and information; we knew about these life changing laws before it becomes reality.
Thank you NASGA, once again, for bringing important news to our attention.
What's this filial responsibility laws? Never heard of it. What happens in a guardianship situation hmmmmmmmm? When the lawyers do not pay taxes and they eat up all their wards assets, the wards children are responsible to pay the bills that are incurred during the guardianship? Or, will the guardian terminate the guardianship when their ward is out of cash? Or, no maybe the guardian will get enough from their wards Social Security check and then the wards kids can pay the rest of the bills. Can someone straighten me out on this? Either way this sounds like trouble, big trouble.
ReplyDeleteSo now guardians have even more of an incentitve not to pay their wards' taxes, nursing home bills, etc?
ReplyDeleteHeck, if they don't, then the ward's survivors can pay them later.
What a deal for them?!
This is a D I S A S T E R
ReplyDeleteAny way you want to look at these
filial responsibility laws it doesn't add up to be a good thing for the average person especially if they don't know about it.
Attorneys and Guardians are
ReplyDeleteplundering elders' estates
and billing the taxpayer so what's our illustrious governments' response? Bill the adult children.
Yea, that makes sense. The government conveniently forgets that these elders have paid into this system their entire lives. These funds have been pilfered away by corrupt professionals that government didn't effectively regulate. Governments answer to their ineffective regulating is to take over
healthcare long term facilities. Yea, and we are expected to believe the Government is efficient enough to give all Amricans affordable, quality healthcare. Ha! would you want your loved one put into a State facility? State facilities are expert at covering up fraud, waste and abuse and silencing anyone who speaks out about it.
Suing the Government is nearly impossible to win as they have 'sovereign immunity clauses' and other loopholes in the law to protect the entity from liability to it's citizens.
Guardianship laws takes away all rights from the 'ward' and their loved ones who Advocate for them.
The 'wards' medical records are sealed under Guardianship as well as the entire process of putting a person under Guardianship through the courts under the Privacy
Act.
This Privacy Act is being misused by unscrupulous Attorneys and their court ordered professionals to Legally kidnap children for the Federal funding State Governmets' get for each child in their custody and they also are billing the parents for caring (abusing) their children. Elders are bieng put under Guardianship for 'spending down their assets' before their heirs can inherit and these elders are filling long term care Gov't facility beds because they have money
to spend down while indigent elders are left out in the cold waiting years to get the care they need.
It's governments way of handling the medicare/ medicaid crisis expencted to implode with the baby boomer generation.
Best protection American Families can take is to
sign over all assets to their heirs with a lifetime usage clause right on the deed, and put their kids into private schools. The government won't be able to steal our kids by collaborating with Public School Administrators who need government funding so they are most willing to assist with new rules for being tardy. Doctors notes get lost and excused absences are marked tardy or unexcused asbsences. Over ten such markings per semester puts the child at risk for losing course credits and DCF investigations of the parents. Kids with college funds and inheritances are being placed under Guardian at Litems for exhorbitant fees and DCF custody to bill parents and receive Federal funding.