DELAWARE COUNTY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

DELAWARE COUNTY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

FEBRUARY 9, 2021 

 

PLACE:       VIA ZOOM 

TIME:          4:30 to 4:50 p.m.  Meeting opens and breakout rooms

                    4:50 to 5:00 p.m.  Sponsor and Introductions

                    5:00 to 6:00 p.m.  Program/CLE Seminar 

Title: Pennsylvania at the Cross-Roads of Filial Support Laws

Speaker:  Professor Katherine C. Pearson, Penn State Dickinson School of Law

 
Pennsylvania continues to make new case law out of old “Filial Support” statutory laws*.  Indeed, in 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed the question of whether the laws of New Jersey or Pennsylvania would be used to decide a New Jersey’s couple’s obligation to pay for long-term care for their disabled adult son in Pennsylvania, despite the lack of any traditional contract relationship between the parents and the facility in question.  We will examine the ways in which families need careful advice in cross-border transactions (including international borders) for long-term care, especially if there is any potential for a gap in coverage by insurance or state benefit programs.  

Professor Katherine C. Pearson is a professor of law and the Arthur L. and Sandra S. Piccone Faculty Scholar at Penn State’s Dickinson Law.  With a dozen years of experience in practicing law before she began teaching, Professor Pearson began focusing on elder law as a specialization and served for more than ten years as the founder of Penn State’s Elder Protection Clinic (2001-2012).  Under her guidance and working with a team of local attorneys, students provided pro-bono representation of older adults on a wide variety of financial issues, planning scenarios and questions about autonomy and decision-making. She currently teaches courses on Contract Law, Elder Law, Estate Planning and Conflict of Laws.  She is the co-author of a Bisel treatise on The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation and regularly speaks to professional groups, including lawyers and financial advisors about the importance of sound planning.  

*Filial responsibility laws ( filial support laws, filial piety laws) are laws in the United States that impose a duty, usually upon adult children, for the support of their impoverished parents or other relatives. In some cases that duty is extended to other relatives.  Such laws may be enforced by governmental or private entities and may be at the state or national level. While most filial responsibility laws contemplate civil enforcement, some include criminal penalties for adult children or close relatives who fail to provide for family members when challenged to do so. The key concept is impoverished, as there is no requirement that the parent be aged.