I had been taking care of both of my parents for over 2 years. Since my father passed away last year, I have been taking care of my mom. She lives 30 to 1 1/2 hour away from me and for a long time, I have been going to her form 3 to 5 times a week. My mother has dementia and she has many health issues. She used to smoke 1 1/2 packs to 2 packs a day and now with the help of 3 to four aides, she smoke 1 to 3 cigarettes a day. She was in hospital many times in one year! Since she fractured her hip a month after my dad passed away, she cannot walk around and needed to be reminded to use her walker. To make long story short, I am taking in a way taking care of her 24/7. including taking care of her bills. My husband has been unemployed for 2 years and I have some health issues and I am in a sense working full time taking care of mom. I am not getting paid to do this and my family and I are financially strapped! I don't know what to do about this! My sister lives out of country and the original agreement was that we get equal share when mom pass away. I don't think its fair. Also I need to make some money in order to take care of mom! I told my sister that if things heading this way, my family and I can lose our home. She did not say anything nor did say anything to support me. I am so lost and scared and don't know what to do anymore. Any suggestions?
Taking care of the bills and such is a role all family members take on themselves regardless of their own circumstances.
The courts won't care about your husband's job or your personal problems unless there is a legal will and it seems as though your sister doesn't care either.Call an elder care attorney and pray.
charge, consulting a specialist would be best bet. I would think twice about being
primary care giver, think about live in help if parent can afford this. That way you can maintain your career. Most reimbursement is done on a pretty low hourly or very
low per diem rate.
Make sure you are being reimbursed at an agreed upon rate. If it's too low
consider other options. Many facilities are well run and if you are looking out for
your parent, they will be given timely reasonable care. Assets should be spent
on parent for their reasonable care and entertainment (ie not for luxury cruises
if it means you'll have to be shouldering their care costs down the line)
Whatever then is left over can be the inheritance. Just remember that many seniors
outlive their money/assets so careful planning is a must. Some siblings appear to
selfishly want one sibling to do all the care giving gratis so as to preserve their own
inheritance. Better to come to an agreement now and receive compensation up
front for your efforts and out of pocket expenses. And verbal agreements are
basically useless. Even written agreements can be contested.
Get reimbursed for your out of pocket costs for care (ie stuff you've bought specifically
for parents care or housing expenses) and pay yourself for care at per diem rates if
you can afford to accept such low reimbursement rates. Personally, if your parent
can afford live in care or quality AL, that would be better route imho. As you'll have
your career to help you once your LO passes. Those of us who ended up doing stints of
full time care have spotty employment records, poor health and that's a tougher
hole to get out of.
Ikle...There’s certainly nothing wrong w/being paid for what you’re doing & if you can have that conversation w/your LO then do so. Also, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business but if sibs aren’t informed about it at the start it could be a problem later.
Just one other thing...as I’ve stated in a previous post...the whole concept of “you chose to do this so...” is just soooooo off base. Yes, I think I always knew it’d be me, the youngest, that’d take care of our mother but No, I had absolutely NO idea what’d it’d really be like or turn into. And, from what I’ve read on this site, it’s only going to get worse.
So no, this was not a choice. Not even close. I believe that there are a lot of us who simply can’t turn our backs on our LO’s; we just have that sort of humanity built into us. “Built into us”. So it definitely is not a choice. We do it as naturally as breathing.
But hey, this is what’s so great about this forum. The exchange of thoughts, ideas, suggestions. And I do respect everyone’s right to express them. I sure have learned a lot here & have received more support here than I have in my “real life”! 😻 So thanks, y’all.
Ilke...good luck. I hope you can figure out a way to be compensated for all you do.