Yup! I agree! Set up a care agreement. You should be compensated for your hard work.. Or tell your family you will be setting up 24/7 care from an agency and the money will come from parent..
Jeanne is, as usual, 100% correct. Most likely there will be NO inheritance, if parents need to go to assisted living or a NH. Even if you swear you will never do that, have you considered being woken up every hour all night long? What about fecal incontinence? What if you hurt your back and simply cannot care for them physically? There may come a time when the NH is the only possible choice.
Set up something with your parents and their lawyer, spelling out your duties and compensation. Treat it as self-employment income, and pay your taxes.
You just can't make the brothers do anything, and it may not be fair. The only way to make it fair is to get paid for your work from your parents' assets.
It is your parents who should be paying you. Instead of saving the money for all of you to inherit, they should be paying you for their care now. Make sure you have a personal care agreement that spells out what you are doing and what they are paying. If they go through all of their assets, then they will qualify for Medicaid. You don't want any money they have given you to look like a gift, because it is not!
The problem with settling up out of an inheritance is 1) that those needing care seldom have anything left to pass on, and 2) it would have to be spelled out in the will ... and how can the parents know how long they will live and how much more the caregiving child should get?
The only fair way, in my mind, is the pay-as-you-go approach.
There is no requirement that your brothers have to pay you or share some of their inheritance with you. It would be nice, but unless it is specifically in the will that you get a bigger share than they do, I don't think there is any way you can charge them.
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Set up something with your parents and their lawyer, spelling out your duties and compensation. Treat it as self-employment income, and pay your taxes.
You just can't make the brothers do anything, and it may not be fair. The only way to make it fair is to get paid for your work from your parents' assets.
It is your parents who should be paying you. Instead of saving the money for all of you to inherit, they should be paying you for their care now. Make sure you have a personal care agreement that spells out what you are doing and what they are paying. If they go through all of their assets, then they will qualify for Medicaid. You don't want any money they have given you to look like a gift, because it is not!
The problem with settling up out of an inheritance is 1) that those needing care seldom have anything left to pass on, and 2) it would have to be spelled out in the will ... and how can the parents know how long they will live and how much more the caregiving child should get?
The only fair way, in my mind, is the pay-as-you-go approach.
There is no requirement that your brothers have to pay you or share some of their inheritance with you. It would be nice, but unless it is specifically in the will that you get a bigger share than they do, I don't think there is any way you can charge them.