Were non-child dependents (the elderly, the infirm) treated as property? Or as responsibilities (e.g. filial piety). And children who were nobles in their own

Were non-child dependents (the elderly, the infirm) treated as property? Or as responsibilities (e.g. filial piety). And children who were nobles in their own right (i.e. the heirs of their dead predecessor, such as child-kings) were not treated as property, merely as people who were temporarily subject to a regent.