I ran across an article by
Rachel Emma Silverman (The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2006). It is already two years old but I was
impressed enough to clip it out then and feel that it is timely enough to merit
further investigation.
A huge number of Americans
provide hours of voluntary care for family loved ones and the numbers are
expected to increase as folks live longer and are healthier than ever before.
Nearly 60% of these people
(caregivers) have to make sacrifices and adjustments to their own work lives in
order to accommodate care giving duties.
It would be a lot easier if they were monetarily compensated for their
efforts.
Rachel Silverman writes
about seniors turning to written agreements to compensate relatives for care giving
duties. She is talking about a Caregiver
Contract (a formal agreement, set up by a lawyer) outlining a payment plan for services
received.
For a Caregiver Contract to
be respected it had to follow stringent guidelines. You need to specify what duties the caregiver
is expected to perform. You can contact Home Care Agencies or
Geriatric Case Managers to establish a market value for these services. Services may vary and could include things
like medication management, meal preparation, bathing, dressing, housework and chauffeuring.
This is a business
arrangement and compensation is considered ordinary taxable income. People
are often uncomfortable with the idea of paying their kids, but it is the only
fair thing to do.
For further information
check the Web sites for : National
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (naela.com), American Bar Association Commission
on Law and Aging (abanet.org/aging), National Family Caregivers Association
(thefamilycaregiver.org,) Family Caregiver Alliance (caregiver.org) and
National Alliance for Caregiving (caregiving.org).
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