How to split care between sisters for aging parent?

My way of thinking: you already did your 50%.

You both should be compensated for the care that is given.
You should have been compensated for the care you gave but can't go back in time to get it.
And with the split of care I hope you are not moving your parent back and forth between 2 houses. This will become confusing for your parent and exhausting as well. And more confusing the more the decline.
This is going to be difficult to do but ....
Forget the past. Move forward and come to an arrangement that will provide the best care for your parent in the safest way possible.
Your parent, I am going to assume (dangerous thing to do I know) has some income Social Security, maybe a pension? other savings?
Use that to pay for what needs to be paid for.
You should have been using it as "rent", insurance, electric bills, gas bills and all the other expenses.
Use it now to pay yourselves, have a caregiver contract drawn up.
If the savings are not used to pay you as an actual salary start with all the household expenses and use the Social Security to pay for his/her portion of those bills. 3 people in the house including your parent, divide the bills in 1/3 or how many people are in the house divide by that number.
Keep receipts. You may need all this information IF you have to apply for medicaid later on.
And no one can do this 24/7/365 so hire caregivers as well they are paid from your parents funds as well not yours or your sisters. If you have not consulted with an Elder Care Attorney in a while it might be time to do so.

20 years is a very long time to be the primary CG of a parent--she's aged from, what? early 70's to early 90's in that time?

I agree that going back to the 'original agreement' at this point would be hard, if not impossible. Once you've had some freedom from the nonstop care, you see what a real life is like.

Stand firm with sister. If your choice has been to keep mom in home with you, yes, it's hard. But it's time for sister to wade these waters.

Stand your ground...she moved parent out so let her take care of parent for the next 20. If she doesn't like it She can hire some help.

"Now parent getting dementia, and sister decided to step in to help and has decided to move parent from apartment to their home for closer care. Within a couple of months, sister realized how hard it is to deal with care and wants to now split the care evenly 50/50."

Ironic how that happens, eh? They who are NOT providing the care always know best, and are often critical of those providing the care, until they decide to step in and provide the care. Suddenly the light dawns.

It would be interesting to know if sister, as POA, is compensating herself for the care she provides. At the very least, mom's income/assets should be used to cover increased expenses in the home(s) she resides in. Without a care-giver agreement, paying yourselves could present a problem in the future, if she ever needs Medicaid. She is probably past the point where she could legitimately sign any agreement(s).

I agree with some other comments about moving mom back and forth between residences. ANY move can be distressing for the person and can exacerbate dementia. Stability and consistency are some key factors in dealing with dementia. Trying to accomplish even 1/4 - 1/3, never mind 50-50 sharing is going to take a toll on your mother. Being an RN might not mean she knows a lot about dementia - depends on training and/or what field of medicine she was in. It does not sound like she is fully aware of all aspects of dementia.

One thing you could do is sign up as rep payee for her SS. In reality, no one should be using another person's SS income (SS rules) even if only used for their expenses. Doing this would mean you and ONLY you could access the funds. They *must* be used for her benefit only, so it can be used to cover the costs of her housing, food, medical care - the necessities, which would defray your costs of keeping her in the apartment. You should also be able to use the funds to hire help for her. If her income and assets are low enough, she could also qualify for some Medicaid funding for hiring aides. Hiring outside help will alleviate some of the stress and strain of the care-giving. FYI - her POA would have NO bearing on the SS or applying to be rep payee (call/contact a local SS office, not the main number, unless you enjoy menus and being on hold!) Once/year you would report how her SS was used and can be done online. It was one of the easiest tasks I had related to ensuring mom was cared for!

If you think her SS would be sufficient to cover her costs and hiring enough aides to lessen the burden on you, would you be willing to have her return to the apartment, more or less full-time? Is sister close enough to provide care IN the apartment, which would allow sharing of care without moving mom around? It would be best for your mother to have ONE place to reside. Too many changes can lead to more difficulties and faster progression. The "plan", whether 25, 30 or 50% is going to be hard on mom.

You have every right to tell your sister no.

Your mom needs to be placed where she can receive the care she needs without being moved back and forth.

I feel like your sister wanted to be in control, she has got what she asked for now she gets to deal with it. Sorry sis! You knew best and you took it upon yourself as the POA to do this. So now you can hire help for mom or put your knowitall, oops! I mean knowledge to work and take care of mom.

The 20 years you took care of your mom counts and I find it difficult to believe that anyone would discount the sacrifice you made. Don't believe for 1 second that what you did doesn't count, it does.

If you decide to participate then you should demand payment and that's that or she can hire someone. She doesn't get to decide what you will do and if you should be compensated for it.

Stand your ground and don't let her push you into something that you don't want. You have served your time taking care of mom, now sister can handle what she did to herself.

gazdzik, some more information would be helpful: where would parent be living full-time? (in RN sister's home?) or does parent travel between home?; how old are you, are you retired? Is no pay for caregiving a dealbreaker for you? Are you and sister in agreement that your parent will never be placed in a facility?

For 20 years you took care of this same parent? Or their spouse and now this current LO? I'm asking because caring for this LO going forward will be far more intense as they decline, not like the past 20 years. Sometimes families don't/won't consider transitioning their parent to a care community, which is fine but family must know what is coming down the pike (and often they cannot imagine the stress). Your sister is an RN, so does she still work part or full-time? Do you? If either of you are married, do the spouses have a say in all of this? They need to. They are the dealbreakers. Would you/sister consider adult day care for your LO (paid for from LO's assets)? This may be the best of all worlds. I wish you success in working through a care arrangement that works for everyone!

I see this so often on this forum. Siblings and families torn apart over a parent’s care. In my opinion you have done 20 years of care. It’s your siblings turn. And you can, if you wish, pitch in with doctors visits, etc. as she did when you had mom. 50/50 is over. If that’s not good enough, hire help or look at alternative care. Done.

Agree with forget the past.   I have my mom in my house and she is MUCH more difficult every year.  

Of course you don't HAVE to help out. 

Agree with PPs, your sister needs to look into adult day care, home health care aid during the day.   I think she needs an elder care attorney

I sympathise with most caregivers who find they have bitten off more than they can chew (having been there myself, for a start) but I am struggling to sympathise with your sister. In addition to how hard caregiving is, it seems she might also learn how very unwise it is to fix something that is working.

Your sister moved your mother closer to her home entirely for your sister's convenience. Moving a person who has dementia from the home she's lived in for 20 years is a bad idea. Moving a person away from her established routine is a bad idea. Moving her away from the care of the people she's used to is a bad idea. Turning round now and saying that you and your husband should help more? - she has a nerve. I think the 25-30% of the time is already quite generous of you, frankly.

In any case, it's going to become harder as your mother begins to need a higher level of skilled care. Your sister may be an RN but unless she's trained and/or experienced in dementia care she'd better look ahead at placement options, and stop expecting you to cover her.

You definitely won't be able to shuttle mother back and forth, by the way. Not for long, anyway. It will completely disorient her.