Filial responsibility laws were in the news recently when a Pennsylvania court ruled in May that an adult son had to pay his mother’s $93,000 rehab bill. She recovered and moved back to Greece before her medicaid application was approved—and before she paid the nursing home. Pennsylvania is one of 30 states with filial responsbility laws. Filial responsibility laws outline adult children’s duty to support their poor or indigent parents.
Making children responsible for their parents’ bills if they can’t afford to pay is the basis of the filial responsibility laws. Because it’s getting harder and harder to qualify for long term care with Medicaid, some nursing homes are trying to enforce their state’s filial responsibility laws in order to get paid. (Filial responsibility can work both ways; parents can be found responsible for their poor adult child’s care bills as well.)
Maine does not have a filial responsibilty law, but Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont do. The states with filial responsibility laws include: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Worried about filial responsibility?
If you’re worried about the your filial responsibility (in a legal sense), talk to an elder care attorney, especially if your parent lives in a state with a filial responsibility law. Make sure you understand your parent’s financial state before they enter an assisted living or nursing home. Don’t hedge their assets; be clear about how soon they may be eligible for Medicaid. Make sure you stay on top of the Medicaid application if appropriate. Long term care insurance can sometimes be purchased through work for your parents, which might help them meet any obligations.
Filial responsibility cases are rare, but will filial responsibility laws be a payment recourse in the future, as Medicaid funding tightens? It’s possible. Courts take into consideration the adult child’s own financial situation and future, including their funding of their own children’s college, their living expenses/mortgage, and the adult child’s own retirement planning.