Care home charges

ButieJ

I have a CCJ and now a interim charging order on my property for £11K. I offered to pay £100 per month instalments but the offer was rejected as Care South (the company that runs my mum's care home) wants full payment immediately.

I own my home with my partner (we are not married) and the debt is in my sole name. I have unsecured debts in excess of £30k, the outstanding mortgage is approx £110K. My house is worth approx £250K

I've been told that:

a charging order cannot be placed on a property without the building society's agreement.

it depends on how the property is owned (a beneficial trust has been mentioned).


Can anyone give me advice how to fight this.

Amanda65

If the debt has been run up against a care home try contacting the Relatives and Residents Association on 020 7359 8136. They offer support and advice to care home relatives and their residents and may be able to recommend a route for you.

How come they are chasing you for the debt - are you guarantor for the fees?

lynzpower

Yes, this seems strange to me. Why are they coming after you for payment?

Do let us know, I work in Social Services and may be able to offer more- I hope x

ButieJ

Amanda65 wrote:

If the debt has been run up against a care home try contacting the Relatives and Residents Association on 020 7359 8136. They offer support and advice to care home relatives and their residents and may be able to recommend a route for you.

How come they are chasing you for the debt - are you guarantor for the fees?

Hi

Yes I am the guarantor. It was made very clear that if I did not sign the form my Mum would not be allowed into the Care Home! There is also an issue regarding NHS Continuing Care as she is an Alzheimer's sufferer.

lynzpower

Do you believe that you were in any way coerced into signing the form to be guarantor? The position you describe yourselves to be in is between a rock adn a hard place, if you dont sign the form to be guarantor your mother wont recieve ythe care she needs, if you do, you end up in massive financial difficulty.

Has your home ever been owned by your mother?

Im very unsure how to offer advice here, as to be honest, its beyond my experience. So i'll pipe down I think, and recommend you call the number another poster gave. I just dont know enough about this im afraid, but hopefully someone else will.

Best of luck xx

ButieJ

lynzpower wrote:

Do you believe that you were in any way coerced into signing the form to be guarantor? The position you describe yourselves to be in is between a rock adn a hard place, if you dont sign the form to be guarantor your mother wont recieve ythe care she needs, if you do, you end up in massive financial difficulty.

Has your home ever been owned by your mother?

Hi
No, she has never had any financial interest in my home. She owned a flat which she was told to sell to cover her Care Home costs. Yes I felt I had no choice but to sign the guarantor form. Also the local Social Services told me that her flat had to be sold or she would not be able to go into the home as they would not pay anything towards the costs. They got a charge on the property to reclaim any expenses they had incurred prior to her property being sold.

Regards

John

slash40

hi, sorry i cant offer any advice, but did anyone see the panorama ? programme the other sunday regarding care home funding for nhs continuing care versus social care. if you have nhs you dont have to sell your home, but with social care you do. they said many elderly people are being wrongly forced to sell their homes. heartbreaking. i work in a care home myself and see the distress of the elderly when this happens.
hope everything works out, slash

Amanda65

John
I'm no expert but if she has Alzheimers I would have thought that all of her care should have been NHS funded rather than social care. The Alzheimers Society might be able to help? Good luck with this. I work for a small charity and time and again people are approaching us for help with top-up fees for care that they are entitled to. Although we want to help the problem is that the more charities step in, the more it relieves the government of the onus to pay for the care and it will then become the norm.

lynzpower

Glad someone else has picked up on this. My understanding ( although its rather thin I have to say) is that if someone needs more than 10 hours a week direct care ( feeding, bathing, bedtimes, cooking etc) then what we would do as Social Services will say right, thats continuing care - so off to the NHS to fund. However, this is usually with care at home, not in residential "placements"

HTH lynz
xx

ButieJ

lynzpower wrote:

Glad someone else has picked up on this. My understanding ( although its rather thin I have to say) is that if someone needs more than 10 hours a week direct care ( feeding, bathing, bedtimes, cooking etc) then what we would do as Social Services will say right, thats continuing care - so off to the NHS to fund. However, this is usually with care at home, not in residential "placements"

HTH lynz
xx

Hi Lynz

The Coughlan case, which set a legal precident, says that the location of care is immaterial. It is the person not the location which is the issue. I've never heard of the 10 hours limit before. My Mum has have 24 hour care.

John

Amanda65

ButieJ wrote:

Hi Lynz

The Coughlan case, which set a legal precident, says that the location of care is immaterial. It is the person not the location which is the issue. I've never heard of the 10 hours limit before. My Mum has have 24 hour care.

John

So how come you have to pay then John?