Funding Care for the Elderly

strummer21

I am not sure if I am posting in the correct section but I am sure someone will advise if there is a more appropriate area to post.

My wife and I are fast approaching 70 years of age and I am a little concerned about how my assests could seized should either of us require elderly care.

We have recently witnessed friends of ours being taken into care and their assets siezed and auctioned off by the council to pay for their care.

I had always intended to leave my property to my children. I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I am a from a working class backround, have scrimped and scraped to by my own house and have paid my taxes through all my working life. It saddens me to think that my property could be seized to pay for care and I am unable to leave anything to my children. Is there anyway to avoid this ludicrous tax on those who own property. I understand that if you do not have any assests you will receive the same care free of charge.

Any help would be welcome.

Scousebird_2

This is correct-if you do not have any assets then the Gov will provide funding-bearing in mind though, if this is the case then you go where they put you and this may not be the best option for you. Unless you transfer ownership of your home to your children for example and then ''rent'' it back from them-that way they are assured of the asset if anything should happen to you. I would seek legal advice on this though to ensure that this is the right thing to do as I am by no means experienced in legal advice. But this is what I would do-depending on if you're prepared to play the care home lottery.

EdInvestor

See a solicitor.You can arrange to change the ownership of the house from joint tenants to tenants in common and then both leave your individual 50% in trust for your children.This will mean the council cannot sell the property and the position of the surviving spouse is protected.The house will never be taken while one spouse is living in it.

Robert_Sterling_3

strummer21 wrote: »

My wife and I are fast approaching 70 years of age and I am a little concerned about how my assests could seized should either of us require elderly care.

I had always intended to leave my property to my children. . It saddens me to think that my property could be seized to pay for care and I am unable to leave anything to my children. Is there anyway to avoid this ludicrous tax on those who own property

If your children are able and willing to ensure that you stay in your own home for as long as possible you may be able to leave something for them in your will. If they are not able and willing then it is appropriate that you should pay for care.

sloughflint

This thread will probably be of interest to you:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1526179

margaretclare

We have recently witnessed friends of ours being taken into care and their assets seized and auctioned off by the council to pay for their care.

'Seized and auctioned off?' Is this really what happens?

Please bear in mind that it is not inevitable that you will need full-time residential care. Many people manage to live in their own homes, even with help coming in, and never have this happen to them.

Many more of us are from working-class backgrounds, benefited from plentiful jobs and a better education, have worked all our lives and have something to leave behind. The generations before us worked equally hard but had nothing much at the end of their lives. Leaving an inheritance was not something they could ever have contemplated. Also, the crazy rise in house prices of recent years mean that more people who started off with little, have what amount to a decent little fortune.