A New Twist on Filial Laws
By: Melissa Barnickle of Baygroup Insurance
Parents are used to financially supporting their minor-age children. However, most adults don’t give a second thought to the possibility of being legally obligated to support their parents.
Welcome to the topic of filial support laws. These laws impose a duty upon a third party, often adult children, to support their impoverished parents or other relatives.
About half the states have filial support laws on the books. What if your state doesn’t have filial laws currently? Well, that’s no guarantee that it won’t pass them sometime soon. It doesn’t matter what the law is today, it is important what the law is at the moment when your parent needs long term care.
Have your parents done great financial planning– including serious attention to exactly how they will pay for prolonged long term care? Congratulations, you most likely need not worry about filial support laws! If you know your parents haven’t planned well, or you’re not sure, you will want to learn more about it.
Laws vs. Obligations
Of course, filial laws are…laws. However, there are many children who, without the law intervening, want to help parents in their hour of need. These children face a choice: provide unpaid care (often called informal care), pay for care (professional care), or a combination of both.
A Twist On Who Pays the Premiums
This desire to help has given rise to a special type of insurance financing. Instead of waiting for care to be needed, some children are paying the premiums today for long term care insurance policies on their parents. For these adult children, it’s a matter of paying an affordable premium bill now instead of facing potentially catastrophic care bills down the road.
In the News
USA Today reported on one such situation in its March 26, 2018 article, “How to Figure Out Elder Care for Your Aging Parent.” Forty-year-old T.J. Mancuso recalled seeing his mother deal with being a full-time caregiver to his father. “Knowing that we couldn’t do anything for my dad, I was like, let’s do something for mom,” Mancuso says. So he and his wife Erica purchased a long-term care policy for his mother. “I’d rather spend money on a monthly premium today,” Mancuso states. “Maybe she’ll never need it, but I know what I’m spending monthly today is probably what a day or two of help would be down the road.”
Conclusion
When it comes to filial laws, adult children who might be placed in charge of helping their parents with long term care might benefit from paying monthly premiums up front instead of forking over gigantic bills later on in time. It is all about crisis management and planning ahead. For more information on the various long term care options that are available, please feel free to contact Baygroup Insurance at http://www.baygroupinsurance.com/forms/contact-us or call us at 410-557-7907.