care home fees /property willed to children

sandraroffey

dont know if this is in the right place. couldnt find anything that was specific.

can someone please answer this question for me??

my sister has just told me that she and her husband have each willed their half of the house to the children so that should the worse happen and they have to go into a care home, the house wont be able to be touched for purposes of care fees.

i thought that it didnt matter who it is willed to, if you still own it, it is still your assett regardless.

which one is right.

Loughton_Monkey

You are right.

She can 'Will' her house to the children, the Pope, or the RSPCA if she likes, but they still own the house. Hence it will be taken into account should there ever be any means testing for care homes.

She may care to note that there are things they can do to give them an element of protection. But 'willing' it is not one of them!

CLAPTON

of course when one dies half the house becomes the childrens

when the second parent dies and the children sell they will be liable to capital gains tax on their half

laurel7172

And if the children divorce in the intervening period, their share of the house your sister or her widower are still living in goes into the assets pot...

sloughflint

So many incorrect statements in one short thread.

OP, your sister's statement is partially correct. It would not necessarily work in the situation where both needed care and they had already run out of liquid assets. The house could be sold at that point.

In the situation where the surviving spouse needed care (or the house had not already been sold prior to the first death in the case of both parties being in care), the share of their house would have a nil value for the financial assessment and therefore the house would be safeguarded.
Ignore the comments regarding children divorcing and CGT since (hopefully) the gift of the share of the house is postponed until after the death of the second spouse.

Cook_County

sloughflint wrote: »

So many incorrect statements in one short thread.

OP, your sister's statement is partially correct. It would not necessarily work in the situation where both needed care and they had already run out of liquid assets. The house could be sold at that point.

In the situation where the surviving spouse needed care (or the house had not already been sold prior to the first death in the case of both parties being in care), the share of their house would have a nil value for the financial assessment and therefore the house would be safeguarded.
Ignore the comments regarding children divorcing and CGT since the gift of the house is postponed until after the death of the second spouse.

Not necessarily - the joint tenancy may be severed and half passed to children on the first death. We don't know the wording (possibly very poorly drafted) of the Will in question.

sloughflint

Cook_County wrote: »

Not necessarily - the joint tenancy may be severed and half passed to children on the first death. We don't know the wording (possibly very poorly drafted) of the Will in question.

In an already muddled thread, do you not think it would be sensible to assume that the wills have been drafted to reach the outcome described in a tax efficient and safe manner?

sandraroffey

havent a clue. honestly. she seems adamant that the house is safe, but it seems that from most of the replies on here, its safe, UNTIL THEY DIE. then things change. i think. however, im going to leave her to it.

CLAPTON

sloughflint wrote: »

In an already muddled thread, do you not think it would be sensible to assume that the wills have been drafted to reach the outcome described in a tax efficient and safe manner?

totally bizarre!

if it were so then there would be no need for a thread

sloughflint

CLAPTON wrote: »

totally bizarre!

if it were so then there would be no need for a thread

What on earth are you on about, Clapton?

sandraroffey wrote: »

havent a clue. honestly. she seems adamant that the house is safe, but it seems that from most of the replies on here, its safe, UNTIL THEY DIE. then things change. i think. however, im going to leave her to it.

I am guessing that what your sister is describing is 'protective property trust wills'.
More on them here

sandraroffey

have passed on all info and she is still adamant that just willing each of their halves to the kids is enough. thinks a protection trust was never mentioned.

hey ho. let her get on with it. but thanks to you all.xx