Filial responsibility laws, otherwise known as ‘filial support laws’,  exist in about 30 states by statute, including CA and MA. These laws impose legal requirement for children to help support indigent parents or other relatives by providing or paying for food, shelter, clothing and health care, and allowing government agencies and health care providers such as nursing homes to sue for recovery of expenses related to care. Nearly all of the states had such laws, but the growth of Medicaid prompted many states to repeal them. The laws that remain on the books are rarely enforced.