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Mapela, you could try a website call Care.com. Please note that a live-in caregiver could be doing the work of 3 full-time caregivers each day, and that will be very exhausting. Chances are that person would eventually leave, and you would be back to square one.

Also, States have laws as to how many hours a caregiver can work. So if your Aunt needs help, let's say at 2 in the morning, the caregiver may have already used her allotted hours.

You will need to draw up an employment contract, if you haven't already, stating what is required of the caregiver, the number of hours to work each day, and the salary. Also whether you will be doing the payroll taxes, or if the caregiver is an Independent Contractor who will handle her own taxes. Also list what days the caregiver will have off.

There is so much to think about regarding live-in caregivers.
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Does your 100-yr old Aunt have the financial resources to pay for all the care she needs without others chipping in to cover?

Are you aware that in many states there are labor laws/caregiving laws that make any caregiver an actual employee and you/your Aunt an actual employer? This means quarterly reporting of income, issuing W2 at year end, paying overtime, etc.

If you hire privately, you won't know that person's background. You will need more than 1 caregiver. You won't have any subs if the caregiver is sick or suddently quits (which happens a lot). There is no ready accountability if the caregiver behaves inappropriately (like theft, abuse, ID fraud) whereas an agency would have ultimate accountability, have subs, and take care of the employee issue for you. That is why their rates are higher.

As freqflyer noted, you absolutely expect 1 person to be "on call" 24/7... they need time off, breaks and vacations. Also, someone who lives in your Aunt's home may be her tenant (in some states there are exceptions for live-in aids) and this would make firing and removing her/him very difficult outside of eviction.

This forum has many, many posts about the woes brought on by privately hired, cash-only live-in aids. There are also horror stories about agencies, but at least they have ultimate legal responsibility.
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If this is actually truly abt having someone there for 24/7 oversight, a (1) caregiver will not suffice. Your Aunt will need at a minimum 2 persons employed full time by her. And someone hired to do housekeeping. All will need w-2, w-9, with appropriate deductions for FICA. Personally I think you should do i-9s as well.

If you are somehow thinking that room&board will count towards wages, so this will lessen the costs, loose that thought. Room&board is a “perk” and not “in-kind”. Every State has a Labor Board and wage theft is an easy peasy investigation to them to do and find the erstwhile employer at fault because it’s a rare homeowner who will do the scheduling and time tracking that can be overified to show no wage theft happened. Labor board will forward their findings to IRS and State tax authorities.

So can it be done? Certainly can but how big of a nest egg does your Auntie have? Like $200-300K per year??? If she’s 100, her kids are themselves older, likely themselves in their 70’s or early 80’s. So are they up for doing the time management & reporting on your Aunts employees?
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BurntCaregiver Sep 2022
I agree that when 24-hour care becomes necessary always hire more than one person. Splitting the week and alternating weekends off between caregivers is usually the arrangment that works best. This way the client's home is not anyone's residence. So if you have to fire someone, they leave. No eviction necessary.
I do not agree about hiring a separate housekeeper. Two full-time caregivers can handle the cooking, cleaning and laundry as well as the care duties. I always did. Most caregivers assume they will be handling housekeeping too. Don't hire one who doesn't thinks so. Also room and board are factored into the wages paid. Caregivers who stay at a client's house and do round-the-clock do not get paid hourly. They're salary and do not have to be paid minimum hourly wages. The same way waitstaff and hairdressers are not paid minimum wage. They get tips. Room and board for a live-in caregiver is sort of like tips. This is factored in as part (not all) of their wages.
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