My mother has lived with me for about 5 years. Just recently became her legal guardian through the court. My mother does have income from a couple of sources and I've never used it. I'm wondering if I can be paid for services. I give her injections daily, bathing, cooking, laundry and everything else. I did not receive a guidline from the court. This is an Ohio guardianship.
@perks1 I think that you don't necessarily pay yourself with her money, but pay for her care with her money so you aren't using all of your money to pay for her. IF she were in a nursing home all that money would come from her accounts and not yours. And it's a lot cheaper to care for her at home than in a nursing home.
Raising a child and caring for an aging parent that is not able to care for themselves are very different. A child you are able to teach them and watch them grow into responsible adults is rewarding in itself. Caring for an elder in decline is very, very difficult and many times the reward is being able to pat ourselves on the back look at ourselves in the mirror and say to ourselves well done. Caring for an elder is very isolating and lonely particularly when there is family dysfunction. With children there are activities and friends with fun things to do. Many times when there are siblings concerned about their inheritance, do not want to pay the caregiver child because of the potential impact on inheritance. I look at it this way, if ALL siblings were participating and either providing financial support for parent, or all contributing equally for care, then inheritance can remain intact. If an only child that caregiver may need compensation in order to help plan for retirement or a wide variety of reasons.