Pa Supreme Court To Baby Boomers- You Must Pay Your Parents' Nursing Home Bills

A few months ago, I reported about a Pennsylvania court case where a child was involuntarily held responsible for a parent’s $93.000. nursing home bill.  

The lower court applied a little used Pennsylvania Support Law to hold children responsible for their parent’s bills. The Pa. Superior Court affirmed the decision of the lower court, and the case recently came before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, meaning it’s the law. About 29 states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves.  These "filial responsibility" laws have rarely been enforced, but six years ago when federal rules made it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid long-term care coverage, they got attention from nursing homes. 

The view held among most Elder Law attorneys was that the law would not survive the attack. In a support case, the duty usually attaches only after a court hearing, and a court order. For example, a parent is not held liable for child support until after a court issues an order, and is only responsible from that day forward. With filial support, however, the duty attaches the moment a nursing home begins to provide care.

Is there any way children can protect themselves? Yes, by getting involved in their parents’ care immediately. Unfortunately, hospitals discharge patients to nursing homes because the family has not pre-planned. As most Elder Practitioners know, there are service options that can provide for the elderly in their home, and most times even the elderly do not want to be in a nursing home. However, the time to start planning is now. The first step is improving the design of the home, to make it easier for the elder parent.  The next step is drafting the appropriate legal documents. Then, plan for other issues related to health, housing and finances. I will cover more of these Elder issues in future posts.

Stay well until the next post. 

Bob Gasparro

Bob Gasparro is an Elder Practitioner (accountant and attorney). He can be reached at Robert.Gasparro@lifespanlegal.com or (484) 297-2050. Comments to this post, and ideas for future posts are welcome.