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If mom can't pay, adult child must (Pennsylvania's filial statute)
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | July 12, 2009 | Monica Yant Kinney

Posted on 07/12/2009 9:29:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

This one's going to blow baby boomers' minds. It concerns a little-known law dating to Elizabethan England suddenly being enforced with gusto in Pennsylvania. The law can force adult children to pay their parents' health-care costs.

If Mom and Pop can't pay, you pay. If they have the money but refuse to pay, you pay. If you don't, watch your credit rating sink under the weight of a legal judgment that will haunt you for life.

It happened to Don Grant. It can happen to you.

The Havertown man is nearly 50 and struggling to pay his mortgage and $100,000 in student loans incurred by his daughter, a recent Albright College grad.

Last year, Grant was sued because his mother, Diana Fichera, did not pay an $8,000 bill at a Delaware County nursing home, where she rehabilitated after surgery.

Grant went to court with his half-sister, who was also sued. He told the nursing-home attorney that he's estranged from his mother and that Fichera has income from Social Security plus two pensions.

The nursing-home lawyer told Grant that all would be resolved if Fichera paid up. When she again refused, the judgment was entered against the whole family.

Family strife costly

Grant says that his relationship with his mother "has always been strained" and that he was raised primarily by his grandparents.

"It was a big house in Drexel Hill," he recalls. "She lived on the second floor. We lived on the first. Sometimes, she'd show for dinner, sometimes not. She never did homework with us."

Grant says his mother has long overspent and mismanaged her money. Fichera declined to comment through her daughter, Grant's half-sister, who asked not to be named.

Public records show pages of judgments and liens against Fichera, 71, who receives a $1,434 monthly pension after working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 23 years. (Unlike wages, which can be garnisheed, Social Security and pensions are generally exempt from seizure.)

In 2006, the Wallingford Nursing & Rehab Center sued Fichera for not paying a $28,000 bill.

Two years later, she accrued another debt at Brinton Manor in Glen Mills. This time, the nursing-home lawyer got creative.

Old law, new use

Blue Bell lawyer Brian Scott Dietrich represents Brinton Manor, but did not return phone calls for comment. Pennsylvania State University law professor Katherine Pearson knew why as soon as I mentioned his name.

"There are three or four major lawyers in Pennsylvania who specialize in representing nursing homes and hospitals, and one of their favorite tools is Pennsylvania's filial statute. Dietrich is one of them," says Pearson, an expert on the arcane issue, also known as "support of indigents."

"These attorneys will bring suit against adult children even if the children live out of state and even if it's been years since they had contact with their parent."

The legal concept of requiring children to support their parents predates colonial America.

"It's a noble theory, a law to make families responsible for each other," Pearson notes. "It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now."

In fact, she adds, filial cases usually "end any real possibility of the family reuniting."

Pay now or pay later

Grant learned of Fichera's rehab debt in a letter from Dietrich's office in March 2008.

"I said, 'Don't contact me. I have nothing to do with her. You're barking up the wrong tree.' "

A month later, Grant was laid off. In August, he was sued.

By the time of the court hearing, Grant had found work for less pay at a firm that sells foreclosures. "I talked to a lawyer," he says, "but he wanted $400, and I didn't have it."

Representing himself was an expensive mistake. Grant never knew he had a narrow window to appeal. Now, it's too late.

"Most of the time, the nursing homes will still compromise and settle, but not always," Pearson says. "Once they have a judgment, they feel empowered."

So a hurt and angry son is left with a dilemma he can't afford: Go into debt to pay his mother's debt, or ignore it and brace for the worst.

"If I go to buy a car, it's going to affect my credit," he says. "If we try to sell the house, it will come up."

Needless to say, Grant no longer speaks to his mother.

"The worst part? She's got as much money coming in as we do," he says. "And I'm being held responsible for her irresponsibility."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: babyboomers; debt; healthcare; judiciary; law; lawsuits; lawyers; lping; medicaid; seniors
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Grampa Dave; SierraWasp

Coming to a state near you?


81 posted on 07/13/2009 6:30:21 AM PDT by tubebender (Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?)
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To: familyop
“More elite kids must be needin’ jobs”

That’s why they keep trying to expand Gub’ment, it creates Overlord, er overseer jobs for the Leets, be it donkey or elephant. Our masters...

82 posted on 07/13/2009 6:53:12 AM PDT by Camel Joe ("All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others"- The Pigs)
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To: cherry

Amen!


83 posted on 07/13/2009 7:15:49 AM PDT by GOPsterinMA (You can't blame Bush anymore...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I a sense it makes sense that this is the law. If she had money and died intestate her kids would probably get the money eventually depending on the state in which it occurred. So it’s pretty disingenuous of kids in general to say they’re linked to their parents financially if it means them GETTING money but separate entities if it means they get a bill instead. Now this particular case is different because the debtor could probably pay. I don’t think they should be able to pursue the kids in the case where the parent has money but refuses to pay.


84 posted on 07/13/2009 8:12:11 AM PDT by Still Thinking (If ignorance is bliss, liberals must be ecstatic!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"If I go to buy a car, it's going to affect my credit," he says. "If we try to sell the house, it will come up."

From a credit perspective, it may help to have a note added in his credit file that this debt was from another individual but that the resulting judgement was placed against him. Plus, he can still offer to settle for less than face value, which would partially rehabilitate his credit or else use his wife's name on credit apps.

85 posted on 07/13/2009 8:15:33 AM PDT by Still Thinking (If ignorance is bliss, liberals must be ecstatic!)
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To: umgud
Sounds like a few lawyers need to be kneecapped. This is exactly the kind of thing that gives them such a bad reputation.

Well, to be fair, it's the 99% of them that are bad that are giving the good ones a bad reputation.

86 posted on 07/13/2009 8:18:30 AM PDT by Still Thinking (If ignorance is bliss, liberals must be ecstatic!)
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To: CSM

Add me to the Ramsey List please. My local station that carried his radio show went off the air earlier this year, and I miss hearing what he has to say. I hope another station picks him up soon.


87 posted on 07/13/2009 8:32:08 AM PDT by Still Thinking (If ignorance is bliss, liberals must be ecstatic!)
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To: Still Thinking

Welcome aboard FRiend. I am listening to his friday show right now, it is a repeat but still worth it. You can get the last few days of his for free on www.daveramsey.com in the upper right corner there is a button for “listen to his show.”

Good luck.


88 posted on 07/13/2009 8:46:49 AM PDT by CSM (Business is too big too fail... Government is too big to succeed... I am too small to matter...)
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To: CSM

Thanks, CSM.


89 posted on 07/13/2009 9:06:01 AM PDT by Still Thinking (If ignorance is bliss, liberals must be ecstatic!)
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To: Still Thinking

No problem. I want to spread his message of “Financial Peace” far and wide.

;-)


90 posted on 07/13/2009 9:08:52 AM PDT by CSM (Business is too big too fail... Government is too big to succeed... I am too small to matter...)
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To: Antonello

The best thing to do is look at what a LAWYER does when they need to go to court.

Does a Lawyer utilize their expertise and represent themselves? Not very often. Usually they go out and hire the best damn Lawyer they can afford.


91 posted on 07/13/2009 9:11:49 AM PDT by allmendream ("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ridiculous.


92 posted on 07/13/2009 9:14:20 AM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!)
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To: conservative cat

Not only is my state on the list, but my family lives in PA. I grew up in the same county where this man lives and have relatives in the same town. So, this story hits close to home. It’s interesting to know about.

Luckily, I was blessed with good parents who scrimped and saved for retirement and never incurred any debt. But, this information is good to have because I wouldn’t want my own children saddled with debt, either.


93 posted on 07/13/2009 9:16:47 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: nathanbedford

Interesting synopsis.


94 posted on 07/13/2009 9:21:36 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ahh Pennsylvania... living behind the times since 1617.


95 posted on 07/13/2009 9:28:58 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: rbbeachkid

Are you prepared to see this extended to aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc.? Because if this becomes more widespread, that’s exactly where it will go.

I for one have a few nieces and cousins whom I suspect would absolutely love to do whatever they want and stick us with the bills.

With this approach, there is no incentive for personal responsibility, and no incentive for a business to refuse to contract with irresponsible parties.


96 posted on 07/13/2009 9:30:19 AM PDT by ellery (It's a free country.)
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To: Orange1998

He’s foolish to pay his daughter’s student’s loans. She’s graduated and is responsible for her own loans.

But besides that, I think this case needs to go to the USSC. This can’t be legal to make one adult responsible for another adult’s bills, no matter if they are related by blood in some way.


97 posted on 07/13/2009 9:34:40 AM PDT by CottonBall
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To: Fee
Take away a man’s ability to make a living, it is good as murdering him.

I've always believed that the freedoms and liberties in the Constitution didn't just apply to speech and bearing arms but to being able to reap the rewards of our own work. Excessive taxation plus laws like this erode the freedoms that made this country great.
98 posted on 07/13/2009 9:37:54 AM PDT by CottonBall
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To: rbbeachkid; count-your-change; Lancey Howard

I’ve reached the same conclusion - that we’ve always paid into the government but never received anything in return. So, I won’t feel guilty if the government ever has to return the favor, though I don’t expect it will ever happen.


99 posted on 07/13/2009 9:46:15 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

the liberals won’t like this at all!


100 posted on 07/13/2009 10:11:33 AM PDT by Munz ("We're all here for you OK? It's a circle of love" Rham Emanuel)
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