Advice re care homes & wills

johnwayne

My nan has asked me for some advice.
She is considering putting my grandad in a home as she is getting to the stage where she can no longer cope with him at home.

What I would like to know is the following:-
At the moment both of them have a will which if either of them die the other partner gets everything.
My nan would like to know if it would be possible for her to change her will so that everything that is hers goes to her son & grandchildren.

She is worried about any problems this would cause with my grandad being in a care home & whether social services would want the money.

As it the will stands when they both die then I will inherit the house & my father & brother will inherit the money.
If she wills the house directly to me (by-passing my grandad) how would we stand? Would social services be able to make me sell it?

Sorry to be confusing. But she has asked me all of this and I just havent got a clue!

She is in good health and there is no reason to believe that he will outlive her but as she has pointed out to me you never know.

I would rather not be discussing this with my nan as I dont even want to think about this happening but I have to so she can have peace of mind when making her decisions.

Thanks in advance

localhero

Your nan needs to get herself in front of a Will writing professional ASAP, as there are sensible steps that she can take to safeguard her home and other assets from means testing for long term care.

There are many threads on the subject on this forum to give you a bit of background info.

Farway

IANAL but what OP is suggesting seems on the face of it as "Deliberate deprivation of assets"

As localhero says, have a search on the above as a starter

monkeyspanner

Deliberate deprivation of assets would only be relevant if the grandfathers assets were given away prior to him entering a care home. If the grandmother wishes to change her will she can leave her assets or her share to anyone she wishes. The complication here is probably going to be the ownership status of the house. If she owns the house outright then it is straightforward she can leave it to you. If it is jointly owned or tenants in common then you will need specialist advice.
Either way you need to gather the facts and take advice or rather you need to assist your grandmother to get advice.

johnwayne

Thanks for your replies.

The house is in joint names with my grandad. She just wants to leave her share of it and her money to myself and my father and brother.

Errata

Are they joint tenants or tenants in common? It makes a difference.

sloughflint

johnwayne wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

The house is in joint names with my grandad. She just wants to leave her share of it and her money to myself and my father and brother.

She can do so as long as she owns her house as tenants in common and savings are not in joint names otherwise the house and savings automatically pass to your grandfather if she predeceases him.

If they are joint tenants then she can sever the tenancy.

Check out this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1526179

If your grandfather is of sound mind, he may also like to change his Will to cover the possibility of him predeceasing his wife and her needing care in the future.