Compensating a family member for providing care to another family member is certainly a growing trend throughout the country.  The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about this subject and quoted ElderCounsel Principal Howie Krooks.  Click here for a link to the WSJ article.

ElderCounsel offers a caregiver agreement as part of its document assembly system, ElderDocx™.  The caregiver agreement can be drafted as an hourly contract, or as a lump-sum contract.  In addition, the document sets forth how the recipient of the care is receiving fair market value for what the recipient is paying for the services.  This is a critical component of any family caregiver agreement (also referred to as a “personal service contract”), otherwise the payments could be viewed by a state Medicaid agency as a gift.

Valerie L. Peterson
Executive Director, ElderCounsel, LLC

Valerie is the Executive Director of ElderCounsel, LLC , an organization that provides document drafting software, education and support to elder law and special needs attorneys across the United States.  Valerie is a frequent lecturer on elder law and Veterans Benefits.