Now that the Vet's social security income is gone, my wages as a live in caregiver have been cut in half. I cannot continue to work for under minimum wage. The surviving spouse is a 94 year old woman with dementia, who has lived in the same house for 70 years, it would be nice if she could live the rest of her life here in a familiar environment.
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You HAVE to have time off
You can not work 24/7/365 without a break.
There needs to be some type of contract. I can not tell from your profile if there are any other family members that would be this woman's POA or Guardian. These are the people that would determine your pay, your hours.
If there in no family members responsible for this woman you should contact Adult Protective Services.
If you were initially working through an agency it might be a good idea to contact the agency. If you were working independently you might want to consider working through an agency so this does not happen again. You need time off, over time pay if you work over time, you need to have worker's comp provided in case something happens to you and you need to make sure all the hours that you have worked are credited to your Social Security records. Not even going to get into the taxes thing!
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You should have a VA office in your Counties Capital. Call them and ask. If Vet was getting A&A the surviving spouse should be able to continue but at a reduction as single. The problem arises, that the family will have to apply for her. If no family, then you may need to call in Office of Aging. Did the woman see SS after her husbands death because what she getting now will increase (if he made more) since he is gone. It may double. With me, I get 800 half of my husbands 1600. If he passes, I will basically get half of his,too. Totally $1600. But this has to be applied for, its not automatic.
Hopefully, someone has POA. Makes it a lot easier to do things.
If they never had A&A she can apply for it as long as he served during Wartime.