This month’s column was inspired by a couple of Wall Street Journal articles in the last month about caring for elderly relatives and making retirement money go a little further.

If you have an elderly relative (or are someone’s aging relative!), you may be interested in a legally documented “caregiver agreement,” a formal contract under which relatives are paid to care for aging family members. In many cases, these agreements, which are also called personal-service or personal-care contracts, document or make explicit an existing informal arrangement under which relatives are already providing basic (generally non-medical) services. The income to the caregiver could just come at a time of need, especially now, when family incomes are under stress.

Ideally, a caregiver agreement is part of an estate plan that includes provision for powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, and so on — topics that have been covered in previous Aging Matters columns. The caregiver agreement should specify duties to be performed by the caregiver — ensuring medications are taken, preparing meals, running errands, housekeeping, and paying bills — and the compensation, which should be based on average hourly rates local agencies would charge to perform these services. As always, it’s wise to ensure that other family members are consulted while the agreement is being formalized, to head off family conflict later.

You may recall qualifying for Medicaid means being practically indigent. If structured properly, a caregiver agreement is not construed as a gift and can thus reduce the aging person’s estate without disqualifying the elderly person from receiving Medicaid. Legal assistance is advised, and the income is taxable to the caregiver.

This topic is connected to making retirement money go further because without getting another certification or degree, you may be employable as a nonmedical service provider for aging people wanting to remain in their homes. Local agencies that could employ you were listed in another Aging Matters column:

Abiding Home Care: (360) 692-6929

Care Solutions: (360) 692-3058

Comfort Keepers: (360) 698-5533

Kitsap Home Care Services: 888-449-9048

Lutheran Community Services NW Home Helpers: 800-378-5771

As always, you’ll want to screen these service providers just as much as they want to screen you. But you could consider paid employment with one of them that’s a good match for you, and supplement the retirement dollars now that retirement funds are so drastically reduced in value.