Am I obligated now to take care of my mother later on?

The threat about the will is empty. As BB says it is probably the worst thing she can think of as a threat.

But she is definitely going to need some kind of care, and she is going to have to pay for it with her own assets. If she outlives her funds, Medicaid will probably be needed. They won't step in until all of her money is gone. There will be nothing to leave to anybody. This is simply a sad fact of life in modern America.

Not saying this is u, but I have a SIL who just barrels in and takes over. Big turnoff for the elderly. Let her do what she wants. Just let her know ur there if she feels she needs help.

All good advice above. Another bit from me: do some research about what options there are for eldercare in your area. Research inhome care, Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Nursing Homes and Continuous Care Communities. When things with your mom settle a bit, ask her if she's comfortable talking about finances with you, so that you have an idea of what her resources are when the time comes. Find out if the important paperwork--will, advanced directive, financial and health POA and a digital diary are all in place and who she is trusting with those documents.

If her resources are limited, do some research into Medicaid in her state.

I was struck by your sentence "I assume that her home would be sold to pay for nursing home care" and your mother's statement "I would get nothing if she went into a nursing home". You need to look behind the assumptions of those statements (her home is an exempt asset while she's alive, even if she's on Medicaid) so you need to find out the fact and not what "everyone says".

To endorse what another poster said, you have no legal duty to provide hands on caregiving for a parent. You might well find that you feel a moral obligation to see that your mother is cared for.

Before you talk to a lawyer, talk again to your mother, as soon as you're back on easier speaking terms.

She doesn't want you to move back in. She doesn't want to go into a Nursing Home, to the extent that she's imposing the worst penalties she can think of on anyone who tries it. Okay, fine. So... what *would* she like?

Let her calm down. Get your own breath back. Meanwhile, download information about health care and welfare options, including directives, appointment of proxies and all the rest of it. Gather together some brochures and leaflets about services and facilities in her area. Then you want to get the information to her: you can give her the reading matter and talk to her about it; or if she gets tearful and argumentative at the mere thought, you can track down a social worker or elder care specialist lawyer or planner and suggest she talks things through with an independent professional.

Everyone is on her side, including you; the tricky part is getting her to accept that, and to appreciate that if she doesn't want to end up helpless and with no choices, she has to Have A Plan.

I'm sorry Plan A was so bruising for both of you. My mother started out saying "mi casa es su casa" - that didn't last too long for us, either.

You are not under any obligation to provide hands-on care for your mother. Not now, not in the future. The point is that you want her to be okay, and living as close as possible to how she wants to live. That's why you're bothering.

I echo what freqflyer said about family dynamics. People often tout family care as the most loving, most personal, etc., because of the deep, long-standing relationships we have with family. Nobody stops to consider the effect that caregiving may have on those close, loving relationships, which I think is an important consideration.

Many parents seem to believe that their obligation to treat their grown children as independent adults and free agents miraculously vanishes when the parent gets old and starts needing help. Suddenly they feel free to treat you as their unpaid staff and expect you to be at their beck and call. If I stay at my mother's house, she expects me to wait on her hand and foot. Why should she lift a finger to get a glass of water, when I'm there to do it for her? This irritates the heck out of me, and causes no end of friction between us. I can't be in a state of never-ending agitation and still function in my life. So I don't live there.

You have every right, and responsibility to yourself, to consider your own mental state and well as financial and other considerations in deciding how much you can do for your mother. In my case, that's really top of the list.

LillyAnne, sometimes what happens when a grown child, especially a daughter, moves back in with her Mother, out comes the adult/child dynamics. Once again you are viewed as a teenager who doesn't know squat, and Mom becomes the full-time boss.

If Mom can budget this, she might be better off in Independent Living which averages around $5k per month, depending on where you live. Then as her memory starts to fade even more, she will then move into Memory Care which averages around $7k per month. Does Mom have enough equity in her house to handle 3 to 5 years in such facilities?

If not, and there comes a time when Mom needs a much higher skilled nursing care, a nursing home on average cost around $10k per month. I know, yikes !! That is when Mom needs to apply for Medicaid [different from Medicare]. If Mom's house is still available and the 5-year look back has been done, then Medicaid will place a lien on the house to get reimbursement. Thus, you wouldn't get the house at that point in time, as it will have to be sold.

I might examine if your mom is competent to make decisions about what help she needs and if she is able to maintain her own household and do her daily activities without help. Some people with dementia operate under a delusion that they are okay and can do it, when they are not. Do you think that your mom is able to do what she says?

Do you have the authority to discuss her condition with her doctor? Becoming disagreeable and argumentative could be an symptom of the dementia (my LO became that way), but, it could also be the result from just wanting to be in charge of her own care. Some people don't like roommates and that's okay. lol

Since you may end up moving back in to care for her, I'd consult with an Elder Law attorney who focuses on Medicaid laws right now, to figure out what options there are. It seems to me that there are some exceptions for keeping a lien away from the house, if the adult child lives in the home and takes care of the parent for a certain amount of time. Perhaps, those who know more about this can chime in.

I think I would let her know it's not about getting anything when she dies, it is and always has been about her getting the level of care she needs. If you all are butting heads now it will probably only get worse as she ages, nothing wrong with picking mom up at AL to go have a fun afternoon then taking her home to have someone else make sure her needs are met. That is all I can give my dad, he is not happy about it but, I could not survive him in my home. I look at the situation and know that he made his choices and they came with consequences, I make my choices and live with the consequences, good way for me to check my heart on the situation of the day. He tries to make me feel obligated, wrong move on his part, by choice, willingly maybe but, never obligated. Pushing fear, obligations and guilt pushes me further away.
Good luck with mom and remember to take care of you no matter what you decide to do or not do for her.

I don't think you're ever obligated to take care of a parent, at least not legally. Whether you're morally obligated is a question that probably has as many answers as there are people to answer it. I would suggest asking yourself a different question instead. Not whether you are obligated to take care of her, but just how much care you may feel morally obligated to provide.

I too lived with my mother for a while and then moved out. I can't imagine any circumstances under which I'd live with her again, not unless she had full-time care from someone else at the same time, and maybe not even then. However, I have not abandoned her. I still live within an hour's drive, I still take her to doctors' appointments and for weekly shopping trips, and I still help with minor issues around the house.

I don't like it but I don't see any realistic option. If my mother had the money for assisted living, or if she was frail enough for a nursing home, I'd probably do less for her. I still most likely won't move any distance away until she dies.

Your task, I think, is to figure out what level of involvement you feel obligated to provide for your mother, given your relationship with her and considering all her other options. It shouldn't mean moving in with her except as an absolute last resort. The fact that you mother doesn't want to use outside help, or doesn't want to go to a nursing home, does not obligate you to live with her. Her wishes aren't absolute requirements; they're only her wishes, not to be given any more deference than your wishes, and not even as much.

Good luck finding your path through this - all of us here know it can be very challenging!