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Her family does not want anything to do with her. She moved in with me and we split everything, bills, food, car ins, house ins, gas etc. She is also paying me monthly to take care of her. We agreed that I would not put her in a nursing home as long as I could take care of her. She is 65 and I am 70.

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You need to get to an eldercare attorney and write up a caregiver contract.
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What type of income does she have? SS? Did you have a contract drawn up specifying your income vs her care? Yes, there is a way it can be done but I would suggest seeing an elder attorney so there isn't any problems further down the road.
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What she pays you is a "gift" unless you declare the income and pay taxes on it. Without a written contract, her family could claim financial abuse. So get it in writing with the help of a lawyer.
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Does it really have to involve a lawyer? I have found lots of sample caregivers contracts online, and they look decent. Why pay a thousand dollars for a lawyer to hum and haw over a piece of paper. Anybody who can read can see what these contracts cover, and if you want to cross off the part about giving a bath, then cross that off. As long as the senior is in sound mind they can sign a contract without an expensive lawyer poking their nose into every aspect of their lives.
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Yes, you can get paid as a caregiver but get a contract. Does your friend have sufficent funds to pay you or Medicaid, VA benefits etc avail...depends on her financial situation if she qualifies for medicaid she can name you as her care provider and they will pay you as well.. but not alot......make sure you keep a ledger of what your daily duties entail/actual hours worked just in case in the future there is an issue. Keep a 2nd contract for the live in / roomate portion what you pay/or would pay as a roomate/food/utilities etc...that should keep you covered. You might try a Center for Aging or Senior Center in your area they will often help you with free legal advice. Good Luck! Bless you for helping your friend!
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Both of you need to see attorneys and get some paperwork done and discuss options that could perhaps be better.

The financial aspect is important but you need to do things that ensure and enable you to be able to make decisions for her when the day comes that she can't and do it now when she is still cognitive. DPOA, MPOA, some sort of "Guardianship In case of Incapacity" and then update your wills with a codicil if there are changes to beneficiary's. IF something happens to you, what happens to her also needs to be considered. If you have your own family, that needs to be considered also.

The personal care contract is good but I'm not sure if you want to do that - if you're 70 your SS & retirement situation is set and making more taxable income may not be what you want to do. It may be better for her to pay rent instead or perhaps something else. A lot of this depends on what is anticipated for her health and also for yours. If realistically, you gals could have a decade together it could be better to have her pay rent and use the funds to get the house so that you both can age in place. If she has the situation where a shorter time is more likely, then you have to be more careful as Medicaid has a 5 year look back. But whatever the case you have to have legally binding agreements on all this both for future Medicaid application and if family comes around in the future.

If both of you do not have totally prepaid funeral and burials done - that would be a good thing to have rather than paying for caregiving.
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My mum is a carer for my stepfather who has dementia. The question is he had to go in to respite to give my mum a rest because she took ill and also got type 1 diabetes.She gets a caring allowance;but is not receiving any help for his respite care.How does she claim towards the cost.
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Bella20, you need to post your question as an "Ask A Question " so that you can receive responses.
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