My mother is 93. My father passed 10 years go. If my mother runs out of money, are her children responsible for her care?

It is very dependent on the state in which you live. There are 30 states that have filial responsibilities on their books. That being said, the laws are not there to strangle the family, which means they would take a look at your income and what you need to maintain your life as well as save for your own retirement and support your kids through college, etc.

You should probably enlist the help of a certified elder care attorney to guide you and you should definitely get that checkbook and any credit cards out of Mom's hands and out of the facility.. pronto.
Generally, unless your last name is DuPont, when a parent runs out of funds, the family applies for Medicaid. A few things to be mindful of re: Medicaid.
* It can be a long tedious, paper intensive project (bank statements for 3-5 years, etc).
*There is usually a 5 year look over the shoulder which means no extravagant gifts to the children or grandchildren. Some of that scamming that she is subject to now may count which is why you are going to gallop to the facility and grab that checkbook!
*Not all facilities take Medicaid as that payment is much lower than their regular charge. You need to find out now if her current facility will take Medicaid and if they will guarantee her a bed if she goes on Medicaid. I say it that way because many facilities will allocate a small percentage of their beds to Medicaid recipients but if those beds are filled when a long time resident needs one.... well the long time resident is just out of luck and needs to find another accepting facility. In my senior health career I have seen this happen so many times I lost count.
Wishing you good luck and peace in this journey.

Here is what one reader had said:

"Sadkid22
3 hours ago
Renee,

Depends on the state your mom lives in. Some states have a requirement that children must financially support their parents if the parents are financially insecure. Google your question and the list of states will be available. I know PA has this rule, but NY does not. Good Luck."

Unless anyone co-signed any contract with Mother, no one is responsible for paying for her care. No State anywhere should force a family to pay for her care. What happens if family has no money to pay? Force mother to go to a family home or worse yet, be sent to the street? So inhumane! That is what Medicaid is for, to resort to financial assistance when her funds run out. The time to see an eldercare attorney is Now!

Patathome01

Once again, those states that still have the old antiquated "filial laws" are not using them. Children in our country are not being charged for their parents care. Using such a law is almost unheard of and the one instance I can find the child was enormously wealthy. I would not worry about filial laws. You will not be charged for your parent's care when they run out of money. BUT all her assets must to used to her care prior to gettting medicaid within the restrictions of the state. No state is as generous as California; new laws allow 2 1/2 year lookback and 100,000 in assets.

Renee7777: Retain an elder law attorney post haste.