The short answer to the question of whether you are legally obligated to support your parents is “probably not.” While California does have a filial law, it is rarely enforced.
Filial laws are also known as filial support laws which require adult children to financially support their parents if the parents are unable to do so themselves. Support means providing basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. California’s filial law is found in California Family Code Section 4400 which states “Except as otherwise provided by law, an adult child shall, to the extent of the adult child’s ability, support a parent who is in need and unable to self-maintain by work.” There are factors included in the Family Code that must be considered when determining whether the child is legally responsible to support their parents. Those factors are the following:
- The earning capacity of each party.
- The needs of each party.
- Each party’s obligations, assets, age, health, and standard of living.
- Other factors that the court considers just and equitable.
To enforce the California filial law, Family Code Section 4403 allows only two parties to petition for the support payments:
- The county that is seeking reimbursement for support payment made by its agencies to the parent who has a child who could have paid that support; and
- A parent can petition for a child to support them.
The county’s reimbursement is limited to the payments made by the county above what it is required to pay under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 2000 et seq. The county is also entitled to reimbursement of attorney’s fees for bringing the petition. Due to California’s Medi-Cal program, it is very rare that a county will seek reimbursement under the filial laws.
If a parent is the petitioner, the court will consider the ability of all the children to pay for the support. The court has the authority to require one child to pay more than another child based on the child’s ability to make the payments. A parent can also bring a petition under filial laws to enforce a promise by a child to provide support.
While in the almost three decades that I have been practicing in the estate planning, conservatorship, probate arena, I have never seen a filial petition filed, it will not surprise me if we start seeing more as an elder abuse tool.