I've lived here since late January. I originally moved in to take care of his 82-year-old wife. She passed away in March 2024 from bone cancer. I moved in and began caring for her, per her request (I dated her son). The husband had blocked arteries in his knees and legs. Since then (that was in April of this year) his health has gone down. I take care of him 24-seven. I have a medical background and over 35 years’ experience working as a receptionist helping nurses draw blood, coding insurance, etc. His mind is gone.
He talks about his family all the time and how his son was a drug addict and never around. His other child, a daughter, passed away. I have not been paid a dime since his wife passed. I live here and do not get to leave or have any time for myself. I am also currently battling skin cancer. The family has the money to pay me. His wife wanted to leave me a great deal but she was on hospice and dying so it was not legal and now her husband is not of sound mind so he cannot make financial decisions. He does not know what to do and would not be eligible for Medicaid. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there any way I can be paid? I’m in the state of South Carolina.
My Mom had a neighbor who had help daily. I was cleaning Moms house out and putting things out on the curb when the aide came over. She told me family had not paid her in 2 wks. She had called APS and told them she would be leaving and the woman was bedbound. APS was there within a few hours and took her away.
You can consider submitting an invoice addressed to the people you were/are caring for. This way, when they pass you may be able to make a claim against the estate when it goes to probate. Outside of that, you probably will never see a dime.
I agree with others that you should move out asap. Never do a gig as a live-in aid ever again unless hired by a responsible and responsive PoA and you also get cash, not just room and board, and they have at least 1 other caregiver -- and you have a written contract.
On this forum we read about all the bad outcomes of this type of casual cargiving arrangement made directly with the elder instead of the PoA.
And if you've not been paid since you moved in in January of this year, how are you able to eat, or buy clothes, or pay for gas for your car if you have one, and insurance and the like?
But bottom line, you must just leave this situation and then call APS(Adult Protective Services)and report a vulnerable adult living by himself, and they will come out and eventually the state will take over his care.
This is no longer your problem, and I hope that you have learned a good lesson here to NEVER move in with someone to care for them without a legal contract in place.