Going into a home - what happens if ...

chipmunk

A friend of my Mum's has called her today quite distressed. She is in her 80's and can manage to get about reasonably well but her husband is very poorly with leukaemia. They live in a large house which has become too much for my Mum's friend to manage on her own. He husband flatly refuses to move into a smaller place and doesn't want anyone coming into the house to help, i.e. meals-on-wheels, home help etc. I think he's too proud.

Mum's friend is at the end of her tether and is now fearing that soon the only option will be for him to go into a home. However, she's worried what will happen if he does.

These are the questions she asked my Mum;

Will the council take her house?
What happens if they both go into a home?
Obviously the council would have to be paid for their care; can they get help with this?
What happens to the house if it belongs to the children?

I don't know their financial situation. I don't think they are poor but equally I don't think they have lots of money.

Can anyone give me advice to pass on to my Mum for her to tell her friend?

Thanks guys

RedBern

sorry to hear this.

If the husband is very poorly, is he being supported by a Macmillan nurse? They would be able to help with a lot of this worry - if he's struggling then perhaps he could go into a hospice for respite for a few days? (When my own dad was poorly, he was adamant he was staying at home. However, mum needed a break from caring, and so we managed to persuade him to go to a local hospice for a weekend. It was the best thing we did - he used to go every month after that, only Monday - Friday - and mum visited, but she could relax when she went home and knew he was being well looked after. He died in the hospice - dancing with one of the nurses at 8am would you believe! sat down afterwards, closed his eyes and died.)

Anyway, I digress. The council won't take their home, what they may do is put a charge on it so that the cost of any care in a home would then be repaid from the subsequent sale of their home. However there are also regulations about the sort of care you have to pay for now, and nursing care that I believe the NHS have to pay. Again a Macmillan nurse would be able to help.

Your mum's friend could also contact Age Concern, they'd be able to help, or the local social services team. It may be trying to persuade the husband that it is his wife that needs the help, not him, and that may help his pride?
It is a stressful time, and the more help she can get, the better.
Sorry can't be more help.

hamstercheeks_2

chipmunk I can totally empathise, going thru this with my father at the moment:( , but at the early stage

this may help

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/rescare.asp

hope things go okay

Let me know how you get on

hamstercheeks_2

this site gives more info about the financial side of things.

although might not be exactly where you live, gives a bit more insight

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/carehomes/financial/permanent

gymbo

hi chipmunk
presuming your mum's friend lives in England, if her husband has to go into a Home then she can remain in the house and the council have no claim on it at all. Social Services would do a financial assessment based on the husband's income and capital and may be able to assist in the cost of the Home.
If both go in then the house would be taken into account after 12 weeks (as long as it is in their names) and there are a nummber of options open, again the local Social Services would offer advice.

If the property has been put in the children's names then it would be looked at to see when this was done and what the intention was behind transferring the property but it may be disregarded.

Their local Social Services department should offer all the advice needed but if you go to the doh website you can download a copy of the CRAG regulations - or try Age Concern who also have a number of leaflets available.

hope this helps

chipmunk

RedBern wrote: »

sorry to hear this.

If the husband is very poorly, is he being supported by a Macmillan nurse? They would be able to help with a lot of this worry - if he's struggling then perhaps he could go into a hospice for respite for a few days? (When my own dad was poorly, he was adamant he was staying at home. However, mum needed a break from caring, and so we managed to persuade him to go to a local hospice for a weekend. It was the best thing we did - he used to go every month after that, only Monday - Friday - and mum visited, but she could relax when she went home and knew he was being well looked after. He died in the hospice - dancing with one of the nurses at 8am would you believe! sat down afterwards, closed his eyes and died.)

Anyway, I digress. The council won't take their home, what they may do is put a charge on it so that the cost of any care in a home would then be repaid from the subsequent sale of their home. However there are also regulations about the sort of care you have to pay for now, and nursing care that I believe the NHS have to pay. Again a Macmillan nurse would be able to help.

Your mum's friend could also contact Age Concern, they'd be able to help, or the local social services team. It may be trying to persuade the husband that it is his wife that needs the help, not him, and that may help his pride?
It is a stressful time, and the more help she can get, the better.
Sorry can't be more help.

Redbern, so sorry to hear about your Dad. It's comforting though to know that his last hours were happy ones and that he died in a gentle way.

Thanks for your reply. I don't know if he is under the care of the Macmillan nurses. I'll ask and if so suggest that they may be able to help. Also Age concern.

chipmunk

hamstercheeks wrote: »

chipmunk I can totally empathise, going thru this with my father at the moment:( , but at the early stage

this may help

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/rescare.asp

hope things go okay

Let me know how you get on

Sorry to hear about your Father too, hamstercheeks. It's heartbreaking isn't it when the people we love become old and frail.

Thanks for the link, lots of info. on there.

chipmunk

gymbo wrote: »

hi chipmunk
presuming your mum's friend lives in England, if her husband has to go into a Home then she can remain in the house and the council have no claim on it at all. Social Services would do a financial assessment based on the husband's income and capital and may be able to assist in the cost of the Home.
If both go in then the house would be taken into account after 12 weeks (as long as it is in their names) and there are a nummber of options open, again the local Social Services would offer advice.

If the property has been put in the children's names then it would be looked at to see when this was done and what the intention was behind transferring the property but it may be disregarded.

Their local Social Services department should offer all the advice needed but if you go to the doh website you can download a copy of the CRAG regulations - or try Age Concern who also have a number of leaflets available.

hope this helps

Hi Gymbo, yes Mum's friend lives in England. I thought that was the case re. the council not being able to take the house whilst one of them still lives there, also I thought the same regarding the house being in the childrens' names.

I'm going to tell Mum to advise her friend to speak to someone, Social Services or Age Concern.

Thanks again all of you for your time.

Oldernotwiser

If they try and transfer the house into the children's names now it'll almost certainly be looked on as deprivation of capital. Although there are cases where it can be disregarded, doing this just before people need residential care is, fortunately, not likely to be one of them! As the husband is proud and self sufficient I'm sure he'd want to pay for his and his wife's care, if possible.

hamstercheeks_2

There's a 7 year rule for when it comes to the house being written over to a relative, ie should have happened 7 years ago or more.



What happens to my house? Will I have to sell it?

If you move permanently to a care home that will be your new home.

If you own your own hme, the social work service will generally consider itsestimated value when working out how much capital you have.

The financial assessment must ignore the value of your house if you areentering a home for only a temporary period of care, or if you are intending to move permanently into a care home and any of the following people are living in your house:

• your husband or wife, or your unmarried partner;
• a relative who is over 60;
• a relative under 16 if you have to support him or her;
• a relative who is incapacitated or disabled; or
• a divorced or estranged partner who is a lone parent with a dependent child.

The social work service can also ignore the value of your house if a person who used to provide care for you (your carer) still lives there.

If you think your home should be excluded from the financial assessment, you should let the social work service know the reasons.

This is taken from the Scottish Executive guide on care homes

Savvy_Sue

hamstercheeks wrote: »

There's a 7 year rule for when it comes to the house being written over to a relative, ie should have happened 7 years ago or more.

the 7 year rule relates to Inheritance Tax, NOT the calculations of whether someone has to pay for their care.