How do you pay (or do you) a sibling who is the caretaker of a parent who lives at parents home for free. The caretaker receives Social Security and lives in the parents home and does not pay rent, utilities or anything. We would have to pay out of parents money. Since there is some money in savings no one qualifies for public assistance or any other help. The parent has Alzheimer's and is now total care for the last year.
She is working her butt off caring for your guys mother. 24/7/365 total care.
Absolutely they deserve to be paid by mom and be provided a room and food for doing it.
Does your boss charge you rent for your space at work? Do you pay your share of the utilities? No, because it is standard operating practices to provide a safe, comfortable environment for people to do their work.
You should be grateful that she is willing to forfeit her life for moms, because that is what a caregiver does in these situations.
A fair, living wage with a contract to ensure this is wages and not inheritance.
Do what's right by your sibling and show how much you all value and appreciate the care and sacrifices, pay well and relieve the duties at least 2 weeks a year and days off every week.
I just assumed both were women, sorry if that is wrong. Good for you for asking about how to do the right thing.
You also need to plan for your sibling’s future. If your parent ever goes to a nursing home or memory care facility, then your sibling who is currently living with your parent will have to pay for the utilities and upkeep of the house out of HER/HIS OWN MONEY. Your parent's money can only used for her/his care at the nursing home or memory care facility. If your sibling is only getting SS, then she/he has very little money that she/he can put into a retirement fund to be used for paying utilities in the future if and when the parent with Alzheimer’s has to be admitted to a facility.
I lived with my Mom for 9 years and received free room and board nor did I pay for utilities. I was listed as a “Dependent” on Mom’s income tax return because she paid for all of my food and clothing—everything. I did not work outside the home as my health problems limit the type of employment that I can do and we lived in a small town with very limited employment opportunities.
Once Mom was admitted to the nursing home, ALL of HER MONEY had to be used for HER CARE at the nursing home. I had to use my retirement funds (I was not eligible for SS at that time) to pay for utilities, food, etc. Because of a miscommunication with the Social Service Assistant at the nursing home that Mom was in, I almost had to move out of the house into a 20 foot travel trailer as that is what I could afford to live in.
Copy and Paste the websites listed below to your browser for further information about how to pay a family member and about family caregiver contracts. There are government organizations that will assist with paying family members as caregivers.
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/financial-legal/info-2019/personal-care-agreement.html
https://www.caring.com/articles/payment-for-family-caregiver/
https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/get-paid-as-dementia-caregiver/
https://www.caregiver.org/personal-care-agreements
https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/paid-caregiver/program-locator.html
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/publications/bifocal/vol_37/issue_3_february2016/creating-effective-caregiver-agreements/
You state that your parent has been total care for over a year, so you know that your sibling is not just sitting around twiddling her/his fingers doing nothing. She/he is performing the same work that a CNA does in a nursing home while caring for an Alzheimer’s resident. Give your sibling some credit for the job that she/he is doing and support her/him financially.
Think about about it this way. What would it cost in that area for 24/7 in home care? In my area somewhere around 10-12,000 a month. Think of the money it is saving as opposed to living in a facility. In my area memory care runs from $6,000-10,000 a month. These expenses are for the parent to pay and worth much more than room and board.
Don't do what my twisted sissies did and alienate the caregiver sibling. Instead support her and understand that she is doing a very difficult job that people are paid a fair wage for and that other family members are not able or willing to do. Be grateful that your parent is able to remain at home with a family member on a caregiver-patient ratio of 1:1.
Remember that parent's assets are first for their care, anything remaining after death is then for inheritance.
It's that "(or do you)" bit that really grates.
Have you as a family paused to consider what 24/7 care would cost if you didn't have a sibling prepared to make the necessary sacrifices?
And then, since this sibling is already enjoying the luxury of social security, you chip in that "or do you" and appear to begrudge the free rent and utilities and wow now even a possible wage on top. What next, turtle soup and gold spoons?
Try it yourself. I don't think you'll find the terms over-generous.
So, anyway. Yes, you do pay. How? Gratefully. How do you arrive at a figure? You can compensate the caregiver for loss of earnings, and relate it to what s/he would be making in his/her normal employment; or you can find out the market rate for agency caregivers and align the pay with that. Either of these will give you a baseline for negotiation, which you can then fine-tune.
You and/or other family members have Power of Attorney for your parent, have you?
As another writer had written, the sibling isn't really living at home free. She/he is on call 168 hours a week. Please note that 40% of family caregivers die leaving behind the love one they were caring. This job is physically and emotionally draining. Especially since she/he is a senior taking care of an older senior. Your sibling will have his/her own age declines.
I hope you sibling can get some time off to breathe, to go to his/her own doctor appointments, to do some shopping for her/himself, etc. Who does fill in for the sibling?
The Agency caregivers in my area get $30 an hour. My Dad had 3 shifts of caregivers each day, thus the cost was $20,000 per month. Then Dad found out that senior living would save him some money, so he sold his house and used the equity for Assisted Living/Memory Care.
In my previous post, I wrote that in my area an Agency caregiver gets $30 an hour. And DeeAnna had some excellent links.
You asked how do we pay her or do you, not how much or what should we pay her.
Not knowing where you live there is no way to say this is the going rate for fulltime live in caregiver.
FF told you what she paid for her dad's 24/7 care.
Not sure why you are all snarky about the information provided, it answered your question. It also provided you information on how to pay legally.
Room and board is included when someone is a 24/7/365 caregiver and they get a salary, agencies charge a minimum of 22.00 an hour in Tucson and every hour after 8 is billed at time and a half.
At the time of her death, the house is to be sold, and proceeds to be split between five children. At which time, I will become homeless, so I am putting money away for that eventuality. Only one sister thinks this agreement sucks- she believes that "anyone would jump at the opportunity to do this for free rent." As long as Mom can stay at home, we will all have some inheritance down the road. If she had to pay someone else for full time caregiver, or move out to assisted living, money wouldn't last like it is. So that is how we are working it. And none of us can count on an inheritance, as her money is for her care as long as she needs it.
I am sorry if you feel that my answer is “defensive” because it was not written that way. You asked “How do you pay (or do you *pay*) a sibling who is the caretaker of a parent who lives at parents home for free.” and that is the question that I answered.
In regards to your second question: “How much should she get paid?”---The website “Programs that Pay Children to Care for their Aging Parents” states:
“In most cases, the adult child / caregiver is paid the Medicaid approved hourly rate for home care, which is specific to their state. In very approximate terms, caregivers can expect to be paid between $8 - $14 per hour.”
https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/paid-caregiver/elderly-parents.html
I did find an “Closed” agingcare.com question from March 2015 that asked:
“How is "room and board" for a live-in caregiver calculated?”
https://www.agingcare.com/Questions/room-board-for-a-live-in-calculated-179051.htm
You might be interested in this question as some of the posters did list hourly rates for family caregivers.
I tried to Google "How to calculate family member caregiver salary" BUT most of the information that I found was related to government programs that pay family caregivers to take care of a family member.
Sorry that I could not be of more help.