What consideration does the child who takes care of the parent before their death get in the estate? 6 Answers as of September 14, 2011

Unless there is a written agreement between the Parent and the Child called a Caregiver Agreement, all of the hard work of the child is not considered when dividing up property in the estate. This results in a lot of hurt feelings and anger between siblings when one child is doing the lion's share of the care giving and all children are treated equally in the end. You should discuss your situation with an attorney and with your parent, there may be options to ensure that the efforts being made to care for your parent are considered in the end.

Whatever is provided in the will or trust, or if neither exists, how the intestacy laws of the state distribute an estate when there is no will or trust. Taking care of someone before death does not provide the right to a greater share. You are either paid now or specially provided for in the will or trust if the person believes it is appropriate to so provide.

You would want to determine if the care provided qualified the child to receive a statutory custodial claim (look at Illinois statute 755 ILCS 5/18-1.1).

None, unless there is a written agreement with the parent, a special provision in parent's will, or if the siblings will otherwise agree to some consideration.

If the parent has a Last Will and Testament, then whatever consideration it gives to the beneficiaries is what the beneficiary will receive. If the parent has no Will, then the state of Florida decides what the beneficiaries will receive. If the decedent has no spouse, only children who survive him or her, the children will split everything equally, regardless of who took care of the decedent during his/her life.

The court and the law does not take that into consideration in dividing the estate up unless the child files as a creditor of the estate stating they are owed money for taking care of them. They would have to overcome the presumption that they did it for free, however, that can be overcome. The parents would have to state in their will that they wanted to give that child more money or property to prevent them for not getting compensated for caring for their parents.