Our Voices: Legally Written: Women caregivers need to plan for the future

By: Kisha Brown
Special to AFRO

Black women are caregivers. (Women comprise 81 percent of caregivers for older people worldwide).

I know them. They’re paid and unpaid. They’re in their 30s through their 70s. They have full time jobs. They’re part-time and full-time students. They’re retired.

They’ve moved their parents into their home and retrofitted bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways. They’ve consolidated their lifestyle and belongings and moved into their parents’ home.

Caregiving is a full time job. It’s cooking, serving and cleaning up breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s washing, brushing and grooming to someone else’s liking. It’s paying bills, changing the channel, refilling beverages and sliding off socks at the end of the day.

It’s handling the current affairs of a two-in-one household and the inevitable future affairs of a two-to-one household. It’s thoughtfully attending to someone else’s needs and subconsciously, yet knowingly, planning for the end of said attention.

It’s hard to plan for someone else’s day to day and also for when they’re gone. Starting at, what’s the plan for the funeral and the repast? Which pictures will be in the obituary and how many people are expected to account for how much chicken, string beans, dinner rolls and slices of cake are needed after service?

Going beyond that are considerations such as how to pay for it all, who is going to own the house, obtaining access to bank accounts and if the will is up to date.

Of all of the things to consider when thinking about the future, I’m going to give you three questions to also please consider:

Is there more than one person who is likely to inherit?

Is there a house (with or without a mortgage), land, or other real property worth more than $10,000 that is owned solely by your parent/ care receiver?

Are minor children or adult guardianship at stake?

If you answered yes to any of the questions, you may want to consult with an estate planning attorney to advise on steps you can take to create a personalized estate plan that may or may not include a will, trust, advance directives (medical will), guardianship, power of attorney and more.

You probably have more questions than answers about it all. But the truth is you don’t know what you don’t know, and time is of the essence to do right by our parents and grandparents who worked too hard for what they built. There are legal and other resources in our community designed to support us. It is up to you to ensure that what needs to get done gets done.

A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Wellesley College, Kisha previously served as director of both the Maryland Attorney General’s Legislative Affairs division and the Civil Rights department.