is there anything more I can do to save my mums money

markymark10_2 · 5 August 2008 at 6:35PM

Hi There

I dont know if there is anyone out there in a similar situation but any help would be appreciated.

My Mum had a major stroke back in november & was admitted into care in april as she has never really recovered & still cannot talk or move the right hand side of her body & needs to be looked after by two nurses.

When she was means tested by the council although she had no savings the council tried to place a charge on her property which is in our joint names. I brought this property for her in 1984 for 24000, 20000 of which was from the proceeds from another property I had sold which was in my name.

I successfully argued under crag that as I had put most of the money into the property then my mums beneficial interest was only one sixth of the property & she shouldnt have to pay for her care this was accepted by the council who are currently paying her care costs.

However mum needs things to make her life easier & as neither of us have much in the way of savings I have put the bungalow up for sale, it is likely to raise around 70000 pounds after mortgages have been paid off.

Is there any way that I can protect my mums half of the money from the sale so that it can be spent on improving her life rather than the council taking vast amounts of her share to pay for her care costs or will she have to pay this as obviously her savings will increase from 0 to around 35000 pounds.

Any advice would be appreciated

thanks in advance

Mark

JohnnieW · 5 August 2008 at 6:54PM

Hi Mark
The most important thing for you to do now is to get mums care paid for by the NHS.
From what you are saying, mum needs nursing care and as such the local health authoriy must pay for her care (NHS continuing care)
This is not means tested, and the local authority should not be involved.
I am not saying that it is easy to do this, but it is the most important thing you can do to safeguard her assets.
You will be blocked at every turn but you should be persistant.

markymark10_2 · 5 August 2008 at 8:18PM

Hi there

I went down every route possible with the nhs including appeals & meetings over 4 months in which her social care team were included but incredibly given the nhs criteria I couldnt even get them to pay the nursing care premium let alone pay the full cost of her care, as one nurse put it to me at the time she would need to be nearly dead to get a qualification.

My past tribulations are listed in another thread on the silver savers board.

chesky369 · 5 August 2008 at 10:32PM

Have you tried your local citizens' advice or your local MP?

Oldernotwiser · 5 August 2008 at 10:35PM

markymark10 wrote: »

Hi There

I dont know if there is anyone out there in a similar situation but any help would be appreciated.

My Mum had a major stroke back in november & was admitted into care in april as she has never really recovered & still cannot talk or move the right hand side of her body & needs to be looked after by two nurses.

When she was means tested by the council although she had no savings the council tried to place a charge on her property which is in our joint names. I brought this property for her in 1984 for 24000, 20000 of which was from the proceeds from another property I had sold which was in my name.

I successfully argued under crag that as I had put most of the money into the property then my mums beneficial interest was only one sixth of the property & she shouldnt have to pay for her care this was accepted by the council who are currently paying her care costs.

However mum needs things to make her life easier & as neither of us have much in the way of savings I have put the bungalow up for sale, it is likely to raise around 70000 pounds after mortgages have been paid off.

Is there any way that I can protect my mums half of the money from the sale so that it can be spent on improving her life rather than the council taking vast amounts of her share to pay for her care costs or will she have to pay this as obviously her savings will increase from 0 to around 35000 pounds.

Any advice would be appreciated

thanks in advance

Mark

How has your mother's share of the property leapt from one sixth to a half?

Savvy_Sue · 5 August 2008 at 10:45PM

My first thought is that if you have already successfully argued that your mum's initial share of the property was only 1/6th, then surely her 'benefit' from the sale would only be 1/6th as well?

Those more expert than I will confirm this, and I can't get my head round the maths to know if it helps anyway ...

I see OnW has the same thought as me!

markymark10_2 · 5 August 2008 at 10:58PM

Thanks for the replies,

The situation would be this.

Currently while the house is still owned by us the council have accepted that my mums beneficial interest in the property is only 1/6th its value.

However if we were to sell tomorrow for say 80000 after mortgages are paid off then we I believe by law that money would have to be split 50/50 between me & my mum. The minute that cheque for 40000 hits my mums bank account then she would be assessed as having savings of 40000 at this point all council funding would stop & my mum would have to pay the full 1600 a month for her care, she would also lose her 100 a month pension credit due to being over the savings threshold.

I have seen one solicitor on this matter & he believes that nothing can be done to alter this arrangement but i'm just posting in the hope that someone out there may know differently.

Many thanks to you all for your input.

Savvy_Sue · 5 August 2008 at 11:15PM

Now, was that a solicitor with experience in this area? If not, get in touch with Age Concern and check with them. To me, there is no logic to this, although I realise that logic and law do not always go hand in hand ...

localhero · 5 August 2008 at 11:34PM

Hi Markymark,

If your mother owns 1/6 of the equity in the house and the net proceeds after the mortgage is repaid is £70,000, then her interest will be worth £11,666. (£80,000 net = £13333)

Assets in excess of £13,500 would make her only partially liable for any fees, otherwise the sale of the house should make no difference.

Assuming she has other assets, then one way to legitimately bring this capital down to a level where perhaps there is no liability to fees is to pre-pay her funeral.

I would also question the quality of the legal advice you've received if I were you.

monkeyspanner · 5 August 2008 at 11:34PM

It may be worth checking with this charity which specialises in this area.
www.counselandcare.org.uk or with this organisation which specialises in care funding solutions www.nhfa.co.uk

If your relative gets £40000 from the sale of he house she will only be liable for her own full care fees until her savings reduce to the maximun savings limit which is around £22000 so at £1600 per month about 12 months fees. Once the limit is reached the council will once again have to assist.

Would it not be possible to release some capital from the value of the house under the maximum savings limit so the council have to continue paying? Or perhaps she could transfer a proportion of her share of the house to you if you could raise some cash against your share of the house.

Hope this helps.

Oldernotwiser · 5 August 2008 at 11:37PM

As it's already been extablished that your mother's beneficial interest in the property is only one sixth, can you not buy her out on that basis?

is there anything more I can do to save my mums money

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