Could You Be Billed for a Parent's Nursing Home Care?

13 minutes ago

4 min read

Oct 12, 2026 · @Mark Clark

(This article was sourced from publicly available information online. Please do your own research before making any decisions based on this information.)

Pennsylvania's Filial Support Law, Explained

The short version

Pennsylvania has a law that can make a family member pay for a loved one's care when that person can't afford it. It's called the filial support law. It can apply to adult children, spouses, and even parents of adult children.

Most of the time, it comes up over unpaid medical or nursing home bills. The good news is that you can lower the risk a lot. Learn how the law works, and plan ahead for Medical Assistance (Pennsylvania's Medicaid program).

What the law says

The law is 23 Pa.C.S. § 4603. It says a spouse, a child, or a parent may have to care for or help pay for a family member who is “indigent.” In Pennsylvania courts, “indigent” means a person who doesn't have enough money to pay for their own care. That can include someone who has some income. In one case, a mother living on about $1,000 a month qualified.

There are two exceptions:

• A family member who can't afford to help doesn't have to.

• A child doesn't have to help a parent who abandoned them for ten years while they were growing up.

One more thing to know: the person making the claim, such as a nursing home, has to prove the family member can afford to pay. The family member doesn't have to prove they can't.

When it actually comes up

Most often, it starts with a gap in Medical Assistance coverage. Once a nursing home resident is approved for Medical Assistance, the home usually doesn't ask family to pay. Trouble starts when the application is delayed, or when coverage is denied for a while because money or property was given away.

The claim doesn't have to come from the nursing home. Hospitals, care providers, and even another family member can bring one.

A few Pennsylvania court cases show how this works:

• The son who got the whole bill (2012). A nursing home sued one son for about $93,000 after his mother left without paying. His siblings and her husband weren't part of the case. The court said the home could pick which relative to go after. It didn't have to wait for her Medical Assistance appeal to be decided.

• The brother who sued his siblings (2015). A son who was caring for his 90-year-old mother asked the court to make his brother and sister help. His sister agreed to pay $400 a month. The court ordered his brother to pay the same.

• The parents in New Jersey (2019). A Pennsylvania care provider sued the parents of a disabled adult son. The parents lived in New Jersey. The state Supreme Court used Pennsylvania's law because the care happened here. Living out of state doesn't put family out of reach.

What families can do

The best protection is to make sure your loved one gets Medical Assistance when they need it. Once it's in place, the program pays for long-term care, and the risk to family goes down.

A few steps can help:

• Apply early. Start the Medical Assistance application as soon as private savings start running low. Many nursing homes will help with the paperwork.

• Be careful with gifts. Money or property given away within five years of applying can delay approval. That includes gifts to family and even to charities.

• Talk to an elder law attorney. A short meeting before a move to long-term care can save a lot of trouble later.

• Keep good records. In both the 2012 and 2015 cases, relatives who couldn't clearly explain their own money didn't do well. If a claim is ever filed, clear records matter.

• Share the load. A family member named in a claim can bring siblings or other relatives into the case so the cost is shared.

Where the law may be headed

As of October 2026, the law hasn't changed. Three bills in Harrisburg would change it, but none has moved out of committee yet.

Bill	What it would do	Where it stands
HB 2322 (Reps. Howard and Khan)	End the filial support law completely	In the House Human Services Committee since March 27, 2026
SB 630 (Sen. Pennycuick)	Add an exception for adult children who have been estranged from a parent for a long time	In the Senate Judiciary Committee since April 11, 2025
HB 65 (Rep. Howard)	Make family responsible only if they helped hide money or property in the past five years, or didn't cooperate with the Medical Assistance process	In the House Health Committee since Jan. 10, 2025

Reform has come close before. A bill like HB 65 passed the House unanimously in October 2024, but the session ended before the Senate acted. Bills that don't pass by the end of the current 2025-26 session expire and would have to start over.