How does a Personal Care Agreement work?

You can, but I would get a Lawyer involved who is versed in Medicaid. If she may need Medicaid in the future, she needs all her Ts crossed and Is dotted.

Someone on the Forum has mentioned that its easier to charge the person rent then to be paid as a caregiver. That too will need an agreement.

dgc, ask the attorney the best way to set this up to ensure that you are not getting nailed for unnecessary taxes, rental agreement is taxable income, share of costs is not, equals the same end result but one wording generates a tax liability for you and in my state you have to collect and pay rental taxes, meaning you have to have a license and.....see where that can go?

A personal care contract will be taxable to you, but unavoidable if you want to be sure that she would qualify for Medicaid if it was ever required.

Make sure that she is paying her way in full, all groceries, supplies, insurance, property taxes, vehicle expenses, utilities, mortgage or rent, home maintenance, lawn service, housekeeper, everything is legitimate for share of costs and you can charge her more if she has specific equipment needed that increases your utilities, that expense can be hers 100%.

A good attorney will be able to help you set this up legally and word it to cross state lines.

Absolutely! Work with an elder lawyer. We did this and it gives me the freedom to have someone come in. Certainly still very difficult way of life so prepare yourself. Remember though that it will have to be claimed as income for taxes which is a shame.

I (finally) convinced my dad to contact an elder care lawyer. Part of this was to inquire about this issue—I foolishly just showed up to help with many assumptions based on emotions !

The lawyer suggested we have an independent “needs assessment” done. How I wish I had insisted on this before I gave up my career to come to provide 24/7 care that isn’t really needed!

Certainly a GREAT idea to go into this informed by facts and not emotion/assumptions/obligation.

Seek an Elder Law Attorney in Florida. Each state has different laws. Mother and I were living in FL when I was her caregiver and needed everything to be done correctly. The Elder Law Attorney actually saved me a lot of money because she knew of things that I didn’t. It was all drawn up legally so I never needed to worry about any of it at anytime. Where in FL will you be?

I just contacted my attorney yesterday about this. Please contact an elder law attorney. Also, remember, if you pay yourself you need to claim it on your taxes or Medicaid will look at it as a gift.

Make an agreement now going into it. Don’t wait to do it. It will be harder to establish the longer that you wait. It is best done from the beginning.

Best wishes to you.

I have a rental agreement in place I was just wondering if the Personal Care Agreement would be a better option. I plan on consulting a lawyer once we move but that won't be for another 6 months. Just looking for some general information to start. Thanks

Yes! Please get a lawyer to draw up the agreement; he/she knows the rules for their state and can point out issues to discuss and get agreement on.

See an eldercare attorney to draw up a caregiver's contract. but you will have to pay taxes as it should be since she will be your employer. See a tax specialist for that to set up a corporation which will give you more tax breaks.