Are children responsible for their parent’s nursing home expenses?
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Are children responsible for their parent’s nursing home expenses?
My 84 year old father-in-law passed 5 years ago after being in a nursing home for 7 years. Hi wife my mother-in-law did something I believe is called spousal refusal and Medicaid was paying his bills and his pension and social security also went to the nursing home. However, his wife died suddenly 10 years ago. She left a Will which designated her daughter from a different husband and her son from this man as beneficiaries and we were simply included in the Will as getting $1000 which we never got and another daughter by a different husband also to get $1000-don’t know if she got it as she lives in Florida. It seems that upon his wife’s sudden death in 2009 as her
surviving spouse he gained her assets which should have gone to nursing home. He daughter again not his biological daughter and son his biological son took the accounts and spent all the money. Again we got nothing. The daughter passed 8 years ago and her 2 sons got her money. Now the county is looking to be reimbursed for the Medicaid money as it should’ve gone to them upon her death. We have recently received a notice to appear in court as the nursing home is
suing to recover $133,000 to cover his expenses from her death until his death. Again, we received nothing. Since my husband is his biological son but got no money, are we responsible for any of the debt that the nursing home is trying to recover?
Asked on March 13, 2019 under Estate Planning, New York
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
No, you are not responsible if you never agreed to pay or guaranteed those amounts. Children are NOT responsible for their parent's debts unless they agreed to be. Since your husband's parent's *estate* or the money, assets, etc. they left behind, however, would be responsible, if you received anything, that amount could potentially be recovered by the state. You may need to be prove that you did not receive anything, at which point the case vs. you should b dismissed; it would be helpful in doing so to show where the money actually went (at least to the best of your knowledge), so the state can go after the proper target(s).
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