Do you get paid to help the people you love?

As previously mentioned, it depends on the situation as to whether the "family caregiver" is paid for taking care of a family member or not.

A "Caregiver Contract" is a must.  You can find several versions on the internet.  I suggest that you talk to an Elder Care Attorney regarding the "Caregiver Contract" and that you also talk to Medicaid as some states have programs that assist you in paying "family caregivers".

I have found that the website "Care Conversations.org" is a wonderful source of information for care resources, caregiver options and how to pay the care of a loved one, etc.
https://careconversations.org/paying-care

I did not get paid for taking care of Luz. When ask by the judge about it, I told the judge that I had been supporting her for over forty years and I would continue to do so. It would not be a financial burden on me to do so.

In Indiana children or other family members can get paid but spouses cannot.

I think it depends on the situation. My niece (who previously worked a full time job in an unrelated field) takes care of my Mom Monday through Friday and gets paid to do so as we are trying to keep her at home and Mom cannot be left alone. It works out great. She takes EXCELLENT care of her and loves her too so it's perfect. She gives up a lot though-paying into SS, benefits, etc. I used to keep her from Friday afternoon after I got off work until Monday morning when I went back to work and did not get paid, which was perfectly ok. It got to the point that with two jobs I could no longer do that, (what an emotional journey it was letting that go) so we found great people to care for her on the weekends (they love her too) and they get paid to care for her. Just sharing our situation but they are all different and we all just have to figure things out the best we can.

No. I’m not providing full time care though. 🙂

Yes, my father lovingly pays me and my sibling for the income we are forgoing by providing 24/7 care. Luckily, he has a pension and savings and can do so.

Full-time caregivers (who then can't work a "real" job) who caregive without getting any compensation now risk imperiling their own future: future Social Security, savings for their own old age, disability, etc. Not good.

Yes I did.

Never.