As a family law and elder law attorney, keeping up with the law is my job. This means that I keep up on changes to the law and issue spot in my daily life, both the positive and negative consequences of those laws in real life situations. I also handle cases that involve some legal issues that are either uncommon or just that new, as well as very common legal matters like divorce, elder abuse, and estate planning matters such as wills, trusts, and probate. In every case there are many different lifestyle choices, social habits, and even cultural norms that affect the outcome in each case and how the law applies in each situation.
I have decided that I want to incorporate more articles about these other issues that arise for my clients in the mix, including some social or lifestyle issues that arise for anyone when the law is a factor. I want to challenge myself and my readers by writing posts on both legal, and non-legal subjects such as culture, the arts, and exploration of interesting subjects. I am excited to share this journey with you as I explore and strengthen my own voice and the voices of guests, and I hope you enjoy the posts that flow from this endeavor.
I recently wrote a post about elderly parents becoming homeless or living in substandard conditions. This blog post features a topic that arose from this issue: Filial Responsibility. This is a way that a few different states, such as California, deal with people turning elderly parents out when they can no longer care for themselves, and it also applies to residents who are caregivers and helping their parents or grandparents who cannot care for themselves while creating financial strains in their own lives.
Filial responsibility laws are laws that impose obligations or liability for loss of support or medical expenses arising from the care of an adult parent or grandparent. These laws have their origins in English Common Law dating back to the 13th century, and appear to have been created to address situations where an elderly family member was taken in by strangers or other family members without compensation. The laws seem to be enforced as tort actions (in tort law, a civil action in which one person sues another for damages caused by the wrongful conduct of the other person).
The term “filial responsibility laws” describes what you may think of when you think of these laws. These laws impose responsibility for the support of one’s parents or grandparents onto the children or grandchildren who have not provided or are not providing needed care for their elderly family members.
Filial laws include both criminal and civil liability for support of family members. While these laws aren’t seen so much in California, the state of Pennsylvania has been using their filial laws, as recently as a few years ago, to sue family members for the cost of caretaking for elderly parents.
Which state you live in will affect the real impact of these types of laws in your life. This issue is highly controversial and would likely be challenged if it should arise in California. The laws can be seen in both a good light, as a way to prevent abuse of the elderly, or as an unnecessary intrusion on the elderly or ill to force care from healthy adult children. Family members may feel pressured to render support because fines can be issued, and a caregiver can get stuck footing the bill for a parent who cannot pay.
In addition, these laws raise the question of whether you love your parents enough to make sacrifices to take care of them. Filial laws can be seen as an attempt to make adult children love or be responsible for their parents, when in reality they do not want to or cannot do this. Many states, such as California, have a culture that does not support filial responsibility, though it varies from area to area (some cultures in the USA are very filial, with grown children almost always caring for elderly parents, while others put almost no obligation on children to care for their parents, especially where the children object to the care).
From a lifestyle perspective, we see how this type of law could affect family dynamics with respect to financial resources, any care struggles for the elderly parent, and how this may affect the lives of all adults in the family, their ability to pursue their interests and their own finances. It may even impact decisions regarding marriage and parenting. In addition, this law requires family members to discuss the situation with other family members, and in some families, the inability to fund either a parent’s care or a child’s care could rip the family apart.
While elders may object to being forced to go to a separate facility or home in order to receive care, filial laws place the onus on adult children to provide a baseline of care. As such, these laws push adults to pursue their own career goals, and lifestyle interests, rather than taking care of aging parents. If you desire to care for an aging parent, but see the inability of the parent to care for themselves, you may then have to take a lower paying job or discontinue working in order to care for the parent in their home. While many adults do not see it this as a sacrifice, the reduction of personnel income can impact the ability to continue to do activities outside of the home. Some adults then seek alternative caretaking solutions for the other loved one, which can also create legal issues.
If anything, these types of laws force families to talk to each other about their future, and how to care for one another in a way that is both supportive and financially feasible. For example, let’s say you need to take a job that pays less than your ideal job, in order to make sure you are around to care for your own parent who is suffering from alzheimer’s at a level that is below what your parent used to have. This change can create problems for you if you wish to pursue a professional goal, unrelated to caring for the parent. As such, it requires communicating both those wants and needs with your parent to find a solution that works best for both of you.
Technology helps to raise awareness of filial laws and may bring about future changes to these laws. For example, Pew Research found that the 32% of people report that they use the Internet all the time, and that 87% use it for news or information. People are more connected than ever, and as such, they receive more diverse points of view from people who might not hold the same lifestyle and culture choices that you do. This means that those who might not otherwise consider providing care for an aging parent suddenly start to learn about several different connotations of the issue, and may find that they are more open to the possibility than before.
For example, comparisons for similar laws in other states or countries may sometimes be seen as a way for individuals to criticize or support these laws. Seeing criticism or praise for issues related to filial laws can inspire people to openly examine the law and their personal life, and then decide what course is best for themselves and their family. For example, if you learn about how another country views filial responsibility, you may notice one of two things: you may notice that the culture that raised you is very different than the culture of another place, which may cause you to re-examine your views on care for the elderly or disabled.
Conversely, the reverse could be true. You may find that your culture is quite similar to that of another culture, and as such, you might feel proud or relieved to see that other people are already talking about the concerns you have. For some, the ability to see that they aren’t alone fosters positive discussions about care and concern for elders, while for others, this brings up fears and animosities that they were not previously aware of.
Altogether, these laws respond to the interconnectedness of culture, technology, and lifestyle for individuals and groups. They help shape our regulations toward the care of our family members as they age, and may even inspire us to take a closer look at our society as a whole and how we are treating one another. We may view these laws as an intrusion into our family lives, or appreciate them as a way to prevent elder abuse and neglect. The only certainty is that California is at a crossroads regarding these laws, which come in and out of fashion over time.
