She's been living with my sister and I every other month for the past 13 yrs. Although, she just started paying $500 a month the past 3 yrs. We do everything for her. Meds, food, bathing, doctor visits, laundry, etc. She can't be left alone, so it's 24 hour care. We feel she should be paying more. It was difficult to just get her to agree on the $500. How should we approach this? We have 2 other siblings that aren't able to care for her.
Lay out what you’re willing to do and for how much: let them know their realistic options. Your life comes first.
If being paid any amount there needs to be a contract in place with all withholdings properly documented. Then all income if over the IRS yearly amount reported as income.
Does mom have an attorney she has worked with? Is she competent? Do you have POA's in place? Make an appointment with an elder law attorney; have that person tell her about the cost of care.
Add up the charges you feel are reasonable for the care you're giving to your mother and/or how much it would cost her to be in Assisted Living. Then take into account how you can't work due to the need to care for her 24/7, and what bills you have to pay (like the rest of us poor slobs living on planet earth), and decide what's fair & equitable. Then explain to your mother how you arrived at the monthly charges she owes you.
If she's disagreeable to paying you the required amount, start looking into Assisted Living Facilities in your area & see how she feels about shelling out $4-6 THOUSAND dollars per month to be cared for outside of your home.
In the real world, life's not free, for anyone. Mother should have planned for her old age, and that includes how she was going to finance it.
Good luck!
I work 30 hours a week caribg for a senior.
I reveive 3,500.00 a month.
Enough said.
When my sister became ill with cancer, I flew out to care for her several times, and Mom paid for the trip and the expenses because, as she put it, "You're going out there in my place. I'd go if I could, but I can't." Ditto when my cousin (Mom's goddaughter) became ill. Mom always took care of all of us when we were sick or needed help. She was just that way, and she was distressed that she could no longer do things like that.
Despite her kind and generous nature, Mom got very difficult to live with during the last couple of years that she lived with me, but I continued to care for her until it was no longer physically possible for me to do so.
I never wanted to charge her for my labors because she had done so much for me over my lifetime. And from a practical standpoint, I knew that she would need to have at least 2 months' worth of long term care expenses to fall back on during the Medicaid application process if it became necessary to place her in a facility. I didn't want to deplete those savings.
I guess it all depends on the family dynamics.
What is the plan as she further declines? Have you promised to never put her into a facility? Does she have dementia? Is she mobile? Have you thought at all about checking into Medicaid eligibility?
And if any modification to the house have had to be made she should pay for those as well.
Now to paying you. $500 a month is not nearly enough.
If she will not agree to increase that then start charging her for the above things I mentioned. This would increase your 500 by quite a bit.
And it sounds like she is able to make her own decisions so if she will not agree to this then you and your sister need to put up a united front and start looking for Assisted Living for her. Maybe once she realizes you are serious she might think better about increasing what she pays you
Increase in utilities could have been calculated by comparing to past expenses, but it being 13 years, there would be regular increases over time. However, since they are taking care of her every other month, then compare the month without her to the one with her, over a few months' time, and average it out (if possible, use old bills, esp for differences during winter and A/C times, although the increase in heat and A/C would not likely be impacted much by one additional person living in the home.) That would cover utilities and it isn't likely 1/3. Food is a little more difficult to calculate, but anything that only she eats/drinks should be purchased separately and she pays for it, along with other needs (meds, medical insurance, toiletries, incontinence products, etc.) A similar average could be done over a few months' time to figure out how much more is spent when she is living with you. Some gas money would be good to figure in as well, if you have to transport her to doctor, hospital, PT, etc., but keep it sensible and within IRS rules.
I mainly have a problem with expecting mom to cover 1/3 the cost of the mtg and house insurance. THOSE amounts will not change whether she lives there or not, and in the end YOU own it, not her. IF the housing is rental, then perhaps a portion of that could be charged to mom, but if they had the room anyway, it would be more like the mtg issue - you were paying it anyway. IF you moved to a larger unit to accommodate mom, then it would be reasonable to charge the difference in cost to mom.
Care is a whole different issue and should be calculated carefully and properly documented (caregiving agreement drawn up legally) to avoid issues with IRS gifting, Medicaid and any tax implications.