Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Jury Summons. Can I claim the "primary caretaker of a person who is an invalid unable to care of himself or herself" exemption?

I'm the caretaker for my elderly father and mentally handicapped sister. My dad took a bad fall last year and still recovering from it. He's able to get around on his own in the house but requires use of a walker if he goes outside. He has trouble balancing when walking and gets confused easily. If anything happens to my dad my sister goes into panic overdrive...screaming, yelling, and generally freaking out (she's loud enough to wake the dead). She's 42 but when in panic mode she's mentally about 5 or 6 years old. In that state, she won't think to call 911. Which means if something happens to dad he won't get any help unless I'm around to make the call. Neither of them are truly invalids since they can get along without me for 3-4 hours as long as nothing happens. Any longer than that dad gets extremely upset thinking that something bad happened to me. ...and my sister also starts getting panicky. My dad has heart problems and is diabetic so my sister's panicking certainly isn't helping.

I'm physically disabled myself and can't walk the 2 blocks between jury parking and the jury building. I don't have a wheelchair capable of accommodating my size. I can't claim a health exemption since I'm not on disability and can't get a doctor's note without paying $250 for an office visit. My dad thinks I should take the "primary caretaker" exemption but I'm worried about getting fined for taking a false exemption.

I'm in Harris County, TX if that matters.

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 4 years ago

    No. If your dad and sister were truly invalids they would be confined to the home and/or bed. You said dad walks around but with some difficulty therefore he is NOT an invalid. Just because your sister is mentally handicapped doesn't mean she's also an invalid. You need to just suck it up and show up for your jury duty.

    btw...I had a friend who pulled the "primary caretaker" exception card because she was caring for her dad in a similar situation. The court sent the constable who met her dad when he answered the front door. The constable told her that if her dad were truly an invalid he would not have been able to get to the front door. She was arrested. Ordered to pay $1,000 fine and 30 days jail time. The company she worked for had a strict no criminal records policy so her boss fired her as soon as he found out she was in jail.

  • Tavy
    Lv 7
    4 years ago

    Of course you can, they just move on to the next person on the list.

  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    Yes you can.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.