Personal:

If keeping Mom and Dad comfortably at home as they age is the goal, then you and other family
members may end up spending a considerable amount of time caring for them.
As parents age, they increasingly rely on family members to help them remain at home. They may need
help shopping for groceries, getting to doctor’s appointments, picking up prescriptions, paying their bills,
performing household chores, and taking care of other day to day activities. This family assistance
allows many parents to remain comfortably at home as they age, rather than being forced to move into
a costly nursing facility.

If you are the one caring for your aging parents, you may not seek or even expect compensation for the
care you are providing, because after all, your parents took care of you when you were young, so now
it’s your turn to take care of them. However, as you and other family members are sacrificing time from
work or working reduced hours to provide care, your parents may give you cash or other property in
compensation. Unfortunately, these gestures of appreciation may render your parents ineligible for Title
XIX/Medicaid benefits should they require more care than family members are able to provide and they
run out of funds to afford this care.

Caregiver compensation is frequently the subject of great scrutiny when applying for Title XIX/Medicaid
benefits because transfers of money or property can subject an applicant to periods of ineligibility of
benefits, also known as “penalty periods,” unless the applicant can show by clear and convincing
evidence that he or she received fair market value for the money or property transferred. A Personal
Care Agreement is an effective tool to overcome this obstacle.
What is a Personal Care Agreement? It is a written contract between the parent, who is the beneficiary
of care, and you, as well as the other family members, who are caring for the parent. The agreement
defines the type of care the parent requires and the rate and frequency of the compensation paid to the
caregiver family members. As the agreement is in writing, it is documented evidence that the parent
received fair market value for the money or property transferred to caregiver family members,
reviewable as part of a Title XIX/Medicaid application.

The Personal Care Agreement may prevent the imposition of devastating penalty periods if your
parents’ care needs increase to the point they need additional help, at home or in a nursing facility, and
they require Title XIX/Medicaid long-term care benefits to pay for this expensive care.

To schedule an appointment with an attorney at The Prue Law Group to discuss whether a Personal Care
Agreement makes sense for your family, call (860) 423-9231.