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Will my DH have to pay this?

6 replies

MrsGuyGarvey · 18/04/2015 19:21

DH and his sister have had no contact with their father for twenty years for all sorts of reasons, needless to say they don't like him much. They were all born in Germany although DH and his sister were brought up in the UK. DH doesn't think of himself as German and has been meaning to change his nationality to British, which he can do as his mother is British.

His DS has told him that in Germany family are obliged by law to pay towards care home fees of a parent should they go into care. Their father is getting on and they've been to,d that his health is poor, his wife has very little money so there's a good chance that DH and his DS will be expected to pay. DS now also lives in Germany. if DH lives in the UK and has British nationality can the German authorities make DH pay? His DS is a sahm btw so thinks that she wouldn't have to pay has she has no earnings.

OP posts:
AJNH · 18/04/2015 19:25

I have no idea legally, but I hope not! Get dh to change nationality ASAP though?

Someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly Smile

Collaborate · 18/04/2015 20:58

Tempted to book him a one way trip to Switzerland?

Apologies - v poor taste.

LotusLight · 19/04/2015 09:55

Yes, I have heard of this and many countries do put obligations for children to pay for parents. We may have to go that way in the UK as we have so very many old people.

I would have thought whatever his nationality the legal obligation would apply as due to the Rome and Brussels regulations throughout the 28 EU states we all recognise each other's courts and if a judgment were obtained in Germany against him it could be enforced here even if he were a British citizen. I would start with a web search on the issue and then might be worth speaking to a German lawyer.

MrsGuyGarvey · 19/04/2015 20:12

Thank you I hadn't thought about an agreement between EU States, but it makes sense. We'll just have to hope that it doesn't come to it because DH is going to find it very hard to stomach paying anything towards his father.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 21/04/2015 13:20

DH is German and his father died in an " institut", which was a sort of care home ( he was an alcoholic). Ths was a few years ago but we were never even contacted until after he died. DH was estranged from hs father and hs parents were divorced so we wouldn't have been happy to pay anything.
I think they took his pension to pay for his care.

babybarrister · 23/04/2015 11:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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