I have been caring for an elderly gentleman for the last 3 years. He has recently passed away and his family has had nothing to do with him the entire time I have been caring except for a phone call on occasion. I have not been paid in over a year he wanted to leave me his house for payment for everything that I did for him. I did not want to take his home from his family although they are POS, but how do I go about getting paid for services rendered? Do I need to put a lien on his estate because the family is giving me all kinds of grief. They called the law on me to open up a death investigation which is a joke, they turned off all the cell phones and I'm sure all the utilities will be next. What do I need to do to get what I'm owed. I do not to mention they have slandered my name on Facebook saying I'm selling his things and everything else.
Working without pay can be seen as a future expectation from a verbal agreement.
By law they can shut off all utilities except water. So, this could happen.
Find an employment attorney pronto.
Check with your state laws on what can happen with utilities as uncle had a different experience than Isthisreallynreal.
Tenant rights run pretty deep & have safeguards but you have to have a contract or agreement in writing or cancelled checks to show something existed to prove “tenant”. If not, she’s a squatter; really no protections or eviction notice etc needed. For squatters, it’s owners call Sheriff’s office and they come out & can remove her. If she doesn’t go, she can be arrested for trespassing.
Squatters cannot take any items with them either; if they do and Deputy wants to be all hard ball, they can arrest her for theft.
Removing squatters from private property can be easily done. Not pretty but do-able. Owner calls Sheriff & a deputy goes out & if they don’t leave, they can be arrested. It’s why you see homeless (which r squatters) set up on public property or under bridges, as it’s public property and they are part of the “public” so hard to permanently remove.
The Value of the Home should be close to the value of a Live In for 1 year, Depending on where you live, I would say approx $3,000 a Month which would be approx $40,000 for the year you would have coming.
I imagine the MSN intended to live longer than one year for payment of a home.
You would need proof that you weren't paid and just tell the family what amount is owed to you and you'll be happy to move out once it is paid and in the meantime, let them know you'll be staying in the home and hiring an Attorney.
Of course I wouldn't go run and hire an Attorney yet, but I would seek filing at the Courthouse money owed and check to see if you can file a liability on the home.
If you were a Live In then your
The value of the house is not required to match the cost of what live in care would have cost him. Its perfectly within an adults rights to render more payment than is usual if they choose, perhaps the gentlemen had a heightened appreciation for her care after all his own children didn’t take the time to visit him and only made occasional phone calls. She was more like his family to him than they were by the sounds of it. If my own adult children didn’t bother to even visit and spend any amount of time with me and someone else was there for me and helped me, talked with me etc I would place a lot of appreciation on that
Secondly, you won't be able to put a lien on anything or put in a claim to the estate when his will is probated if you were getting paid in cash. Even if you were totally legal and there was taxes being taken out of your pay and you have check stubs and W-2 forms, technically and legally your last day of employment was when you received your last check.
You are not going to get a year's back pay from these people, or even a week's pay. I don't imagine you'll even get a thank-you for enriching their inheritance by providing a whole year's worth of free caregiving services to their "loved one".
Myself, I never got taken advantage of by a family. They know when they hire me or I bring in any of my girls for additional help, that the pay is on time and in full every week. Although, I will allow an occasional two-day grace period if there's an emergency, but it comes with a $25 late charge like a credit card if it happens more than once. I have brought checkbooks to hospital bedsides for clients to endorse. I've showed up at the homes and workplaces of adult kids and their spouses if they have mom or dad's POA and are responsible for paying the bills. I'm one of the bills. You are too. I will not show up and their loved one will get no care from me if my money isn't there. They get a call and nothing else. Every family who hires me knows this on day one. They know what can be expected of me in caregiving service and what I expect from them in pay. If the electric or gas bill doesn't get paid, the service stops. If the mortgage or car payment doesn't get paid, the property is foreclosed or repossessed. Same with the caregiving. If the bill isn't paid, the service is discontinued. I get my money just like all the other bills. Many people will think this is harsh and even cruel. Then I ask them if they work for free. Or if they expect that their electricity or gas will stay on for free if they don't pay the bill.
NEVER WORK FOR FREE!
My advice to you would be that if these people will not pay you the wages that are owed (in FULL not partial. You worked all the hours), then sell your client's things and make as much back in cash as you can. You're owed a year of pay and will not recap anywhere near what you are owed in wages.
If the family threatens to call the police, remember you have an ace in the hole to play. You tell them that as POA's and the people in charge it was their responsibility to take out taxes, social security, Medicare, and carry workman's comp insurance because you are an employee.
Trust me, they will not call the cops because these people know they will get in a lot more trouble than you will.
If you're selling things off, make sure you get paid in cash too.
I hope you have someplace else to go. If not, squat in the house as long as you can. They cannot turn off the utilities if they are being paid for because there's someone living in the house. Force them to evict you. If this family wants to get cute and it sounds like they do, you get even cuter.
Good luck.
If you lived there it sounds like you were paid with room, board, and food.
PS: If you were paid "under the table" you need to pay taxes on that. I assume you filed taxes? You see what kind of mess this can become...
and board toward a payment- I’m being facetious obviously to help point out the narrative that continues to be clung to by many is false.
Unfair and a PIA there is nothing to their accusation of wrongful death, not even sure what they hope to accomplish other than frightening you away so open yourself to any investigation, you have nothing to hide and try to let it go.
It depends on the state you are in to some degree but the fact that you have been living in the house for 3 years even without an actual written agreement gives you some rights. Any mail, especially something like a bank statement or credit card bill since utilities probably aren’t In your name, are things to collect and keep handy. You may even be able to force the family to deal with you via your rights as a tenant in the house but again this likely depends on the state. But a track record of you living there, any record of money that exchanged hands between you and your patient will all contribute to both your assertion that back pay is owed and your rite to stay in the house at least for a period of time. I say this might force the family to deal with you because if they are hot to sell the house and it sounds like that will likely be the case and by law you have a period of time you can stay, even if it requires putting utilities in your name and paying rent (you aren’t caregiving in exchange for room and board any more), paying you off to leave earlier might look good to them. You can’t really make a plan though until you research the laws in your state and town/county. An attorney or even free legal advice if your state offers that would certainly be a good idea.
I would also advise you to be proactive in getting a new job if this was your only one and finding another place to live, getting on with your life, because ultimately you are going to have to move out of that house unless he did leave it to you in a will or legally put your name on it which it doesn’t sound like happened.
Good luck
Whatever debts, contracts, etc. he had & that are outstanding or not yet settled are now debts of his estate. For after death debts to be dealt they need to be filed as a claim against his estate in probate court. If he was the solo owner of the house, his estate will have that house as an asset of his estate.
It then goes into 1. If he had a valid will, then whomever named Executor in that will, opens probate. Executor deals with claims filed
Or
2. If no will, then for most states his assets escheat to the state till his Lineal Heirs are determined and approved by the court. Then a lineal heir usually becomes administrator (dependent) of the estate.
Unless you are specifically named in his will or are a claimant, you get no notification on status of his estate.
On your thinking you can place a lien. A lien placement is way different than a claim against the estate & these tend to vary by state. Liens are usually done for workmans liens, like for companies that provided a service on the physical property….. like a roofing company, electrician. The property is what gets the lien attached. For in-home personal care, I bet that would not be able to be filed as a lien; it would be a claim.
It is on the debtor (you) to let the heirs or court know of the debt and do whatever is needed to file your claim in a timely manner. Like you check the newspaper to see when they open probate and do a Notice to Creditors and then you submit your bill (your claim) to the court as per info on the Notice.
To me, as some who has been an Executor 3 times, your ability to have a claim that the court & Executor will even look at is IF YOU HAVE A VALID CONTRACT or BILL that accompanies the filed claim. If all you had was a word-of-mouth agreement, an Executor does not have to put it into the valid debt group. There is a little cottage industry of fly by nite businesses that file fraudulent claims in probate so if a bill does not have a signed contract or an itemization of services, the Executor can request this and if not provided within days, that claim can be tossed.
That he paid you cash, really works against you as you have no cancelled checks to show a pattern of payment for services. There is no way to verify what you said that he said unless:
- you have a documentation on hrs worked over 3 years and he signed off on the document you presented to him and were paid in cash for. That there exists a “pattern of payment”.
- you have witnesses who are willing to do whatever legal now to establish there was a verbal agreement 3+ years ago. This is not a DIY. You will need an atty who does probate litigation work to deal with a claim for you. If house is over 400k w no mortgage, I bet you could find a probate atty willing to take this on….. 3 yrs of work plus legal fees maybe over 51% of asset value….. they will need to settle. You will need to pay a retainer upfront in some way, maybe 10k.
His family can go hard ball: can say your room & board was 100% in kind for your in-home help. Nothing is owed. He’s dead = all agreements dead as well. If no rental agreement, your not a tenant. Instead Your a squatter & can be removed by law enforcement.
Just a random thought….. could you be at all considered his common law wife? If that could possibly be the case, find a probate atty ASAP. Common law spouses cannot just be ignored. They get a set % in most states no matter what bs has happened.
Excellent creative thinking about the possibility of the poster being considered a common-law wife.
If the family tried to play the 'free room and board in exchange for 24/7 caregiving services' that will backfire on them. It's against the law because an arrangement like that is indenture without a specified amount of time. No one will believe she volunteers to work 24/7 either.
All agreements are not dead after a person passes away. When they owe bills, they are not forgotten. If they were in a nursing home and they find out the person had a ten dollar bill under the rug somewhere, they sue for it.
This family knows she can get them in trouble. So it's a stand off and they figure she'll get afraid and back down. Then they get away with not paying her the money owed.
I hope she doesn't back down.
Did you family know of your arrangement three years ago?
Did you contact as attorney to make these arrangements three years ago?
If not, likely it is too late to honor a verbal agreement, if that is what it was.
How did you expect to 'get his house' in exchange for payment without anything in writing or any signed contract?
Did you think his family would believe you upon his death, if you didn't get anything in writing?
Of course, the family would have had to be involved INITIALLY with such a large 'exchange' for services.
If you do have legal documents, get an attorney.
Perhaps this could be a good lesson for others who read this - get everything in writing and as necessary, get an attorney to draw up a contract.
Gena / Touch Matters
I don't know how long you've worked in homecare (agency or privately), or if you know how it works.
The family isn't going to do a thing. They are not going to call the cops or anything of the sort. Know why? Because it they have control of their "loved one's" money and assets, they are the one who will be held responsible for illegal hiring. They also know that the caregiver can play this card if it comes to that.
These people are not going to pay what they owe to the caregiver. They took advantage of this caregiver and she worked free for a year. They are totally ghosting her now by ignoring her calls and keeping their cellphones turned off because they won't even discuss the possibility of paying the wages that are owed.
The court won't do anything for her. So, who's supposed to make her whole for all the wages she's owed?
She has to get her money and if this means cleaning the house out and slipping out like a thief in the night, then so be it. That might be the only way she will recover some of the pay she's owed. A whole year of wages.
Really now, do you think these people are going to involve the cops when they owe her a year of wages? She also lives there. They would have to prove that the things she's selling don't belong to her. If there are no records of her being employed as the caregiver, they will also have to prove that too and they know it. She can say she was in a romantic relationship with her client and that the things in the house are shared items. With no record of her being employed as a caregiver... well it would be their word against hers. As for the items she may sell, possession is 9/10's of the law isn't it?
It's a shame that caregivers in private service have to know these things. It's an even bigger shame and a disgrace that the families who employ us and entrust the care of their precious "loved ones" to us have so little respect and regard for our service. So little they don't even think we deserve to be paid the wages they agreed upon.
So caregivers sometimes have to be creative to get what we're owed. I always get paid one way or the other.
Go get another paid job and consider this a lesson learned. This will go to probate and house will probably be auctioned off if he was on Medicare/Medicaid. I don't know if he was, but you could have been paid by his insurance company to care for him thru the DHS if he was.
Too many unknowns. The fact that the family called the police to have you investigated makes me think there is more to the story.
Consider it a lesson and move on.
As much as it saddens me to agree with this, you're probably right. She may just have to treat the situation as a lesson learned because that no-good family is never going to pay her the wages she's supposed to get.
Many people choose to leave a care agency out of the equation because it costs so much more than hiring privately. That's understandable. Also, caregivers themselves don't need a license if they're only hired to be homemaker/companions. In a live-in situation it's always far more than that.
What a shame it is that people hiring caregiving services have no respect for this work. They entrust their precious "loved ones" to our care and service, but making sure our pay is timely and in full is not a priority.
I would contact an attorney, not the internet, to deal with this.
If you cannot afford an attorney, call legal aid and ask for their help.
Laws may vary from state to state. In my state, for example, you can be evicted if you don't have a written lease after 30 days, because word of mouth lease is month to month. If the family evicts you, and they probably will, that eviction will stay on your record and you will have great difficulty if you ever want to lease a home or an apartment or office space.
The family may also call the police and file a civil and/or criminal claim against you if you sell his property, and in my state they would be well within their rights and you could end up at best with a judgement against you and at worst with criminal charges.
The best, and most ethical, way to handle this IMO is to speak with an attorney and see if you are able to file claim against the estate for your wages.
You want to continue to be employable, and also collect your lost wages, so consult an attorney and handle this in a professional manner.
See Sarah3's comment below:
" ......it’s against domestic labor laws to count “room and board” as payment for a live in worker, sorry just so frustrating this has been addressed here numerous times in the past and folks seem to be wedded to the idea room and board counts as payment. You can’t pay car or medical insurance, or anything else with room and board. Try calling ones medical insurance and tell them you need to make a payment but your employer doesn’t pay you and ask if they will accept room
and board toward a payment- I’m being facetious obviously to help point out the narrative that continues to be clung to by many is false."