... which says:

"Hard cases make bad law."

The situation you describe is a "hard case". Basing the entire system on the small number of such cases will make "bad law".

Generally speaking, I think families should care for their own first, rather than expecting society as a whole to do the job for them. In my opinion, this is one of the deteriorating aspects of our society (that is, the unwillingness of families to care for their own).

I'm not sure how to handle the "hard case" you've described. Perhaps there could be a procedure for "divorcing" such a relative, so as to make him a burden on the rest of society, rather than just the individual family. If so, however, I would make that a very rigorous standard, too. Not just an "I don't want to spend my money on him" standard. And maybe the "no living relative" part needs a cutoff point (that is, something like third cousins twice removed wouldn't count! ).

On the other hand, if you don't want to spend your money on him, why should I?? [That's a semi-rhetorical question, but one worth pondering.] Isn't there just an ice-floe somewhere we could put him on??

----- jim o\-S