Who Pays for Dad’s Nursing Home Stay? It Might Be YOU!

It is a common misconception that parents are supposed to pay for their children and not the other way around. However, more than half of the states in this country have enacted “filial support” legislation (including Ohio) that may be utilized by long-term care facilities to collect on mom and dad’s unpaid bills. Guess who they will be collecting from? It’s you.

This practice has only recently started to pick up steam as public sources of payment for long-term care (i.e. Medicaid) begin to lag due to overuse, abuse and underfunding. Considering the current state of the economy and public resources, it is expected that this practice will increase.

As you probably guessed, the best way to defend against this practice is through planning. When your parents (or you) are in their 60’s, that should be the “last stop” for this type of planning, because once the 80’s roll around, most folks generally need some type of consistent medical care (long-term or otherwise). Options include purchasing long-term-care insurance, utilizing irrevocable trusts to transfer assets outside of Medicaid’s look-back period (currently 5 years), and the ever-popular in-law suite. Whatever option you choose, understand that the most critical component of the planning process is to ensure that there is not a gap between private coverage and public coverage that will later rear its ugly head as a collection claim by the care facility against the children for mom and dad’s expenses.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at josh@theHElawfirm.com or visit our website at http://thehelawfirm.com/. Our Ohio Estate Planning Attorneys can guide you through planning this phase of life, whether for you or for your loved ones.