How to Value a Sibling's Caregiving Time

In most families, one sibling does the bulk of the hands-on work. Doctor visits, meds, groceries, meal prep, on-call for emergencies. That time is worth real money. Ignore it and you get resentment fast.

The Problem with Ignoring Caregiving Time

If you split costs by income but ignore time, the sibling doing the most care gets the worst deal. They're putting in time and money while distant siblings only write checks. Over months, that imbalance builds. It's the number one cause of sibling blowups over parent care.

How Caregiving Time Credits Work

A caregiving time credit converts a sibling's caregiving hours into a dollar-value credit that reduces their financial share. The credit is calculated as:

For example, a sibling providing 15 hours per week at $27/hour receives a monthly credit of $1,754.55. This is subtracted from their calculated financial share.

What Hourly Rate Should You Use?

The most common benchmark is the home health aide rate published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Here's how rates vary:

SibSplit defaults to $27/hour (Genworth national median for private-pay home health aides). You can adjust this to match your local market or pick a custom rate.

What Counts as "Caregiving"?

Agree on this upfront. The test: would you hire someone to do it if the sibling weren't available? Personal care, meds, doctor visits, meal prep, errands, bill paying, overnight supervision. Social visits don't count.

When the Credit Exceeds the Share

Sometimes a sibling's time credit exceeds their financial share. In that case their payment drops to $0. They don't owe anything because their time already covers more than their share. The rest gets redistributed to the other siblings.