My former boss keeps asking for help after laying me off

My former manager laid me off on a Tuesday morning. On Friday, he texted to ask where a client file was stored.

I answered because the question was simple and the remaining team was dealing with a difficult week.

The next Monday, he asked how to update a report I used to prepare. I sent the instructions. Two days later, he asked whether I could join a quick call with a vendor because “you know the history better than anyone.”

I did not join the call.

The layoff was described as a budget decision, not a performance problem. I received severance and returned my equipment. I am not trying to punish former coworkers or make the transition harder. I am also no longer employed by the company that chose to remove the role holding this knowledge.

My former manager frames each request as a courtesy. He says he hates bothering me and promises every question is the last one. The questions are small enough that refusing feels mean. Together, they recreate part of the job in unpaid fragments.

The emotional confusion makes the boundary harder. I spent five years there. When someone says a client is stuck, my body still reacts as if it is my problem. Answering also gives me a brief feeling of being necessary after an exit that made me feel disposable.

Last week, the manager asked whether I could review a draft process guide. That is not locating a file. That is work.

I replied that I could not continue providing informal support. If the company needed a defined knowledge-transfer session, it could propose a paid consulting arrangement with a scope and contact person. Otherwise, the documentation I completed before departure was the final handoff.

He responded, “Understood,” followed by another question about a password-reset procedure.

I have not answered.

Part of me worries that silence will damage references or relationships. Another part knows that a professional relationship capable of surviving only if I keep working for free is already damaged.

Where would you draw the line between a humane one-time answer and ongoing unpaid support? Is offering a paid, bounded option useful, or does it invite a company that ignored the boundary to keep negotiating?