Can mums house be sold to fund care?

Dollygirl_2

My mum was taken into hospital last year and was moved into a care home just before Christmas. My dad passed away several years ago. My Mum is 63, has a small amount in savings and does own her own house.

I am 24 and still live in my mum's house, can my mum's home now be sold to fund my mum's care?

Does anyone else have any experience of this and what happens when an adult child still lives in the house ?

McKneff

cant really help apart from saying that i dont think they could chuck you out,
maybe a charging order would be put on the house for when it is finally sold.
Sorry about your mum, it must be awful for you and of course her, its no age
to have to be in care.
Take care.

CloudCuckooLand

Think you might want to try to get this to apply;

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CaringForSomeone/CareHomes/DG_10031523

"Keeping your home and assets
You may want to avoid selling your home to pay for care home fees so that you can move back if your condition improves."


And/or, a deferred payments agreement might be applicable. Check your local council, i.e.;

http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/print/property_and_deferring_payments_for_care_fees_09.pdf page 3;

"Can I be forced to sell my home?
Someone living in a care home cannot be forced to sell a property without a court order. The deferred payments scheme enables you and the Council to make an agreement to avoid having to sell your property before you are ready, and without resort to the courts."

Suzy_M

Contact Age Concern for impartial specialist advice.

tbs624

Get some proper advice on this one - Suzy's suggestion is a good one and you may find this article helpful.

My understanding is that generally a property would only be disregarded if shared by a partner or by another relative who is over 60 yrs old, or a family member under that age who is classed as "incapacitated", but deferment of payment may be possible, as others have mentioned.

You may also want to take a look at this link

ukmaggie45

Dollygirl wrote: »

My mum was taken into hospital last year and was moved into a care home just before Christmas. My dad passed away several years ago. My Mum is 63, has a small amount in savings and does own her own house.

Hi there Dollygirl, first of all, welcome to the Forum.

Sorry to hear your Mum is in a care home at such a young age. It would be helpful if you could let us know why (you don't have to go into huge amounts of detail if you'd rather not), she may be eligible for NHS Continuing Health Care, which means she wouldn't have to pay anything. Here are a couple of links from the Silver Saver section of the Forum that you might find useful.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2262567

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=800521

Did your Mum have a formal assessment before she was discharged to a care home? She should have done. Don't believe a word that Social Services tell you, check everything out for yourself. You will find help on these Forums, and you might want to post your questions on the Silver Savers, as there are folks over there that have experience of this kind of thing, as you will see if you read the above threads. Sorry they are so long! But they are full of useful information. After all, your Mum is of an age to be a Silver Saver.

Good Luck.

not_loaded

Equally, my sympathies. Your mum is so young for this to happen.

In my mum’s case we were intending to sell when it became clear she would not be going back. The local Borough Council had a scheme (I think most do) where they paid the fees against a lien on the property, ie: an accumulating debt.

In our case we paid on mum’s behalf a regular DD towards the fees, and the remainder accumulated. You can pay the debt off at any time, as it is not fixed to the property sale. If you don’t pay it off, at the end of the day the interest rate is low, but you wouldn’t want to keep it as a debt forever.

monkeyspanner

I think most points have been covered above but to summarise.

- The council social services cannot force a sale but can accumulate the care home fees in the form of a deferred payment against the value of the house. This is quite advantageous for a couple of reasons.
1. The debt accumulates without interest.
2. The care home should be arranged by the council and this will more than likely be at a lower rate than a self-funding individual could arrange.

- The value of the house would be disregarded if an adult child who was entitled to disability benefits lived in the house otherwise the value of the house will be assessed.

- Your Mum should have had an initial checklist assessment for NHS funded continuing healthcare prior to discharge from hospital to care home under CRAG rules. If you believe that the reason for your Mum being in a care home is primarily medical rather than domestic you should ask for a full assessment. The local PCT is responsible for administering this system.

- If you have contributed financially to the upkeep or repairs to your Mum's house you may be able to claim that you have a beneficial ownership of part of the house even though the house is in your mum's name. If you can then part of the house value should be disregarded from any assessment.

Have the social services approached you or your Mum to do a financial assessment?

Fire_Fox

Dollygirl wrote: »

My mum was taken into hospital last year and was moved into a care home just before Christmas. My dad passed away several years ago. My Mum is 63, has a small amount in savings and does own her own house.

I am 24 and still live in my mum's house, can my mum's home now be sold to fund my mum's care?

Does anyone else have any experience of this and what happens when an adult child still lives in the house ?

Can you afford to continue living in the family home long term? Are the bills going to be manageable? Are you willing or able to take in a lodger?