User:Versageek/Filial support laws

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Filial support laws, also known as filial responsibility laws stipulate that family members are responsible for the care of dependent and indigent family members. Elements of these laws can force adult children to pay for care provided to their parents.

History
In Europe and the United States, filial support laws grew out of Elizabethan Poor Laws which stipulated that responsibility for dependent and indigent persons rests with their families.

United States
With the advent of public assistance programs such as Medicare and Medicade, many states repealed filial support laws. Currently 30 states have some type of filial support laws. . Until recently the laws were mostly unenforced, or used to coerce uncooperative family members into completing the paperwork necessary to obtain Medicare and Medicade reimbursement.

If the state in which a parent resides has a filial support law, their adult children (regardless of where they live) can be sued by nursing homes and end-of-life facilities to collect on medical bills owed by their parents. In most cases, the adult children are only required to pay if they have sufficient assets and income to do so, however there is controversy over what is considered 'sufficient'.

International
Under it's 1982 constitution, China mandates that adult children have a duty to support their parents. This mandate is supported by elements in both Marriage and Criminal laws.