title: State policy decisions in the 1990s with implications for the financial well-being of later-life families.
abstract: This study explores trends and patterns in states' policy decisions affecting the economic well-being of later-life individuals and families in the United States in recent decades, focusing on the 1990s. Rules were selected from the areas of inheritance, estate taxes, homestead exemptions, Medicaid eligibility, estate recovery, and filial responsibility. Results indicate an increasing use of a broad definition of family, one implying that spouses, the nuclear family, extended kin, step-relations, and sometimes in-laws constitute an ongoing collective whose members share economic resources and risks over their lives and beyond. Despite this global trend, states varied in their rules addressing intrafamilial financial obligations and families' accountability to states. While some seemed interested in facilitating the conservation of familial resources, others seemed willing to minimize public assistance while coercing kin into accepting financial responsibility for one another. Research was suggested to answer questions raised by this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography, Arkansas State University, P.O. Box 2410, State University, AR 72467, USA. ghill@astate.edu
authors.forename: Gretchen J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008484:Medicaid / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011632:Public Assistance; D011640:Public Policy; D013219:State Government; D013660:Taxes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014918:Wills / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence