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Comment by s1artibartfast | Hacker News Reader

I think it is important to raise awareness about Filial Responsibility Laws which hold children accountable for the debts of parents. More than half of US state have laws on the books which enable debt holders to go after assets outside of the deceased's estate.

It is becoming increasingly common for nursing homes to bring suits against adult children of their residents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_responsibility_laws#Sta...

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I don't understand how this is legal, let alone upheld by a state Supreme Court. How can I be legally responsible for my parents? How would the courts even find me if I don't live in the US anymore (the example case is the courts successfully suing a man who moved to Greece)?

I am thankful to you for bringing this to my attention, but my WTF! meter is soaring.

In the example you mention, it was the parent that went to Greece. It was a child living in the US that was forced to pay.

It is actually worse than that. Many states also have criminal penalties allowing incarceration for financial neglect of parents.

> How can I be legally responsible for my parents?

Well your parents are legally responsible for you for a period of time. There are many countries (I am most familiar with Germany in this regard) where the children are considered responsible for the parents. I was not aware this was the case in the USA.

In some countries it's quite difficult / impossible to disown or disinherit various relatives.

In Germany, the obligation to pay alimony depends on the child's income. Only when the childs income (before taxes) excceeds 100,000 Euros per anno she/he has to pay something. There exists no obligation to pay alimony for grandparents.

What if you're estranged from your parents? If you haven't talked to them for twenty years are you still liable?

The law provides for exceptions in serious cases. However, the German Federal Court of Justice has interpreted this quite strictly. A son who had no contact with his father for 40 years and was disinherited except for the compulsory portion still had to pay alimony. The court reasoned that the son had received substantial assistance from the father during his first 18 years and that the father had only made use of his right to testamentary freedom.[1]

Just a side note: If someone has received gifts from a person who later becomes destitute, he or she must return the gift under certain conditions (the gift was made no more than 10 years ago, the recipient was not destitute on his or her part, it was not a gift of decency such as a small birthday or Christmas present, etc.).

[1] BGH, Judgment of 12 February 2014, Az. XII ZB 607/12 (PDF, in German) http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/doc...

Realistically, when parents get old, it is their children who become responsible for them. I feel like this is quite common sense... especially seeing as children inherit from their parents...

Consider that parents may have children in their mid 40s. These children are effectively dependent until ~20. Often they'll accrue significant debt to pay for college. Then 10-15 years later their parents may need significant care. If those parents weren't wealthy or careful to save then these children could find that they've few if any years free of heavy financial or caretaking burdens. Then consider they may want children of their own.

The lack of a real social safety net in the US really feels like previous generations pulling up the ladder.

> The lack of a real social safety net in the US really feels like previous generations pulling up the ladder.

At first I misread the last word as 'latter' and I was confused because it completely reverses the meaning. English is fun sometimes.

Except parents can will nothing to their children if they choose? Many people inherit absolutely nothing from their parents.

Parents choose to have a child and should have the responsibility to care for them. Despite this, there are still mechanisms by which parent can legally abandon their children. Children do not choose to be born, so the moral contract is different. I would agree that most people who were cared for as children should care for their elders, and should want to. But what if they hate or despise their parents. Do they “owe” for what the parents did despite never agreeing to the obligations.

Children do not choose to be born, don't want to sound cynical, but they can undo it quite easily. If you think about it, being born is best thing that could have happened to you. Because without it actually nothing could have happened to you. So being alive is better than not to exists at all.

This is pretty damn scary. Are debtor's prisons about to make a comeback too?

Dude, that's basically what we have now. Bond, fines, court fees, lawyer fees, prison labor, etc. Even if you win, you still lose financially.

Edit: I forgot a big one. The early intervention or accelerated rehabilitation programs cost tons of money, paid both to the system and to the vendors of ignition interlocks, ankle bracelets, etc. You really are paying to stay out of prison.

They never went away they just rewrote the rules so you go in for something else on paper.

So basically the system in the medieval Arab Gulf countries. Unbelievable.

Your post implies that they have ever went away. They haven't, there's just a large middle-class America that's largely insulated from the barbarism of its legal system.

We already have them. Inmates in most US jails and prisons are charged a per diem just for being there. It’s disgraceful.

So.. what if they don't pay?

often you're billed after release, can take it from any pay you make when you're out, etc. It's pretty evil.

You find yourself with a judgement and garnishment should you ever be employed.

That’s not debtor’s prison?

Imagine being locked up for not paying fines, only to be fined further while your in, and unable to break the cycle...

Right, that’s not great, but that’s not what people mean by debtors prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison

If someone is unable to pay their debt, they are thrown back in jail, accruing more debt. How is this not a debtors prison? Perfect examples are listed on this wikipedia article. Child-support, garnishments, confiscations, etc. It's exactly what I described.

https://lasentinel.net/if-youre-poor-in-america-debtors-pris...

Inmates who are unable to pay their fees (for even being in jail) are unable to leave. For-profit prisons are real.

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