Family Care Agreements

Love and the law, so it is said, do not make good bedfellows.

Documenting, in a written agreement, a loving, caring or supportive personal relationship, for example, is probably anathema to many Australians.

Australian Family Law however, is now challenging this cultural aversion by its recent acknowledgement of, and legislative support for, Financial Agreements between spouses in the form of Prenuptial agreements and, more particularly, Cohabitation Agreements, namely, arrangements regulating the financial relationships between perfectly happy spouses. Even in the area of defacto relationships, Queensland has also created a mirror regime of financial agreements.

This article is not about Family Law, however, but rather, the Law of Families.
It relates to the age old social duty of families caring for older or infirmed members within the family unit and:

♦ Whether we, as members of a family and as a community, can afford to continue to assign this issue to the subterranean ethos of uncompensated love and duty; and
♦ Whether it deserves to be recognised in the form of a formalised agreement that both addresses the contingencies of such care and adequately compensates those who provide the care; and
♦ Whether, in light of our demographic destiny, we really have any choice.

Brian Herd
Carne Reidy Herd Lawyers

Aged Care – How to Employ a Personal Live-In Home Carer

 

Thinking of having a live-in Home carer? Not sure if the carer can also claim the Carer Payment through Centrelink. This guide can assist you with this information and more.

Living independently in your own home is the wish of most people. Some people may reach a point in their lives where they need some help to do this. This can either be through an accident, an illness, a disability or increasing age.

The assistance a person requires to live independently can take many forms. Help can include assistance with meal preparation, personal hygiene, dressing, going to appointments, companionship, gardening, housework, visiting family or friends, or just supervision in completing tasks.

This assistance can be provided by many of the private care agencies in WA. Alternatively, you can choose to employ someone yourself. This method has some advantages, but it also comes with added responsibility on your part. Advantages include the opportunity to interview and select the best person for the job, to show them exactly what you would like them to do, to develop a relationship and to manage your own money.

This package has been developed to assist you to employ a Care Worker, and also manage the Care Worker you employ.

This package has been designed as a guide only, and we encourage you to clarify any issues you have with a legal representative.

This package is not, and is not intended to be relied on as legal advice. The package summarises what the writers understand to be the position at the date of writing on August, 2007. The law on these issues is subject to frequent change.

How Divorce Affects your Superannuation, Life Insurance & Other Investments

How Divorce Affects your Superannuation, Life Insurance & Other Investments

How it may affect your superannuation…the questions you may have about how the Family Law Act 1975 may affect superannuation, certain…before taking any action in relation to Family Law matters. Overview 1 Do I need a lawyer…