If mom can't pay, adult child must (Pennsylvania's filial statute)

The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | July 12, 2009 | Monica Yant Kinney

[Glenn]

Just how many is that? Two or three?

Trouble with pluralization?

[brityank]

Parasite Ping!

[True Republican Patriot]

Call OBOZO!He’ll fix it! OPPS! Grant is probably the wrong ethnic backround, so he is duilty until proven innocent!.......:-( Sotomayor will have NO empathy for him!

[Lancey Howard]

I would rather they held the children responsible for their parents than hold me (completely unrelated) and all the other taxpayers liable and force us to pay for their upkeep. Let the families work it out between themselves.

On the one hand I agree completely with your sentiments. On the other hand, my family has had so much tax money (including social security and medicare) confiscated from it by foul, stinking government scumbags during my lifetime that I want to grab back whatever I can, however I can. So I say, take care of my mother, you stinking government scumbags.

[apillar]

Well they already brought back one charming Elizabethan custom, debtors prisons, (for back child support), and nobody complained. So why not another? Maybe in the future we will return to the Elizabethan customs of the government forcing you into indentured servitude in some liberal public works project to pay off your grandfather debt to the national health care service.

[kittykat77]

If Filial Laws are still on the books and enforced, who's to say that we won't soon be seeing Sibling Laws! The interesting thing is that a parent's debt is not, after death, transferred to the children but to the parent's estate, which is considered a separate entity. The point is not to burden the children with the debt of the parent. But Filial Laws do just that, as long as the parent is still alive.

Strange.

[Secret Agent Man]

Thing is, eventually it will hit you. Because of this everyone’s own rates on insurance and such could go up. Further who says they won’t come after the rest of us? Joint and Several liability is an evil thing.

[IIntense]

The mother has means.

Apparently I overlooked the financial assets of the mother. I would expect that if she did not pay her nursing home bills, she would have been legally forced to sell her home and/or any other assets she had to pay what she owed.

Once she owned no more assets, and couldn't afford to pay, even with her Medicare insurance, she would have qualified for Medicaid.

[EDINVA]

He could probably just move to Delaware or New Jersey. On second thought, Honduras sounds good.

[cherry]

"health care providers" that you call jackels....some of them are making a whole $8 an hour.....

maybe you can go after the rich elites and companies that own these facilities, or their lawyers...but an awful lot of people work very hard at menial, miserable work to keep nursing homes clean,dry and their clients happy...

[Antonello]

“and the son’s big mistake was to represent himself.”

can’t remember chaper and verse,, but one of our founding fathers had a quote along the lines that law is clearly oppressive. when an honest and literate person cannot understand it without a paid specialist.

Hogwash. If a founding father did say this - and I don't care which one - he must have been either drunk, joking, or pandering. In fact, the majority of them were lawyers by trade! They knew even then that in legal matters the common man was no match against someone practiced in the law. It is no different than any other specialized field. If my car is having engine problems I go to a mechanic. If I am injured or sick I go to a doctor. If I am sued I call my attorney.

I fix computers. I'm good at my job. But my breadth of expertize is limited in other avenues. I'm smart enough to know when I am ignorant, and I will not begrudge hiring someone who knows what he's doing to use his professional skills for my benefit. In the few times I have found myself facing legal issues I hired an attorney without hesitation, even the times that I really couldn't afford it. In every single case it ultimately was money well spent.

[dr_lew]

I said it was a sad thing.

[Gaffer]

I don’t think it’s that strange at all. In recent years, many families have conspired to transfer or hide the wealth of an ailing parent so that they can qualify for Medicare payments for nursing home care, etc. Long term thinking children and parents will do this early to beat out the current laws (e.g., transfers under two years before admittance).

[jocon307]

“Declare her mentally incompetent and then take control of all of her money.”

While that might or might not work, this issue for this man is he really wants nothing to do with his mother, so your plan would not solve that problem for him. We can only assume the mother has no “attachable” assets or they would have gotten a judgement against her.

[visualops]

It would definitely seem there is a case for countersue or whatever it would be called that he should have control of her assets if they are essentially declaring him responsible for her.

[palmer]

I would start with a paternity test.

Did you mean maternity test?

[Wolfie]

Keep it up, and they’ll be some bodies littering the streets.

[just me]

If my mother thought she could charge us, she would remodel her house and send us the bill.

[Wolfie]

America’s “Greatest Generation” strikes again.

[skinkinthegrass]

!