My Gran and Her Care Home....

0james0

I have just been discussing my Gran's finances with her and she has asked if I will take on a power of autourney for her. She's of sound mind now, but wants to get something set up just to be safe.

That isn't our issue though, the problem we have is with her savings and home and the care home she is in.

The care home costs £2500 per month and she gets no help from the state. This has meant that her savings have dwindled to £25,000 and she is going to be forced to sell her house to keep the repayments.

We are looking at investment options for her to provide a larger income to fund as much of the care home fees as possible, but she also wants to try and shift some of her assets to sons, daughters, granchildren etc. This is where it gets tricky and I get out of my depth.

Does anyone know/ can anyone point me in the right direction of rules around how it would work with her gifting money away. The way things stand all of her assets will drip feed into the care home and she wants to be able to leave some (as was always her intention) to family as an inheritance, but she now realises that by the time she passes on, there probably won't be any left to give out! So she wants to do it now.

IHT is not an issue, it's purely how the care home would be about that and how the state would feel when her money runs out and she is asking for her care to be part or fully funded.

le_loup

Look up "Deprivation of Assets" and "Immediate Care Plan" in these forums.

dunstonh

she also wants to try and shift some of her assets to sons, daughters, granchildren etc.

That will make her situation worse not better.

Does anyone know/ can anyone point me in the right direction of rules around how it would work with her gifting money away.

Its too late. Things like this need to be done before care is known to be likely. As le loup says, this would be classed as deprivation of assets. Also, does she really want to be at the mercy of local authority care?

mystic_trev

0james0 wrote: »

The way things stand all of her assets will drip feed into the care home and she wants to be able to leave some (as was always her intention) to family as an inheritance, but she now realises that by the time she passes on, there probably won't be any left to give out! So she wants to do it now.

In short she can't. Expect some fairly 'brutal' replies.

0james0

dunstonh wrote: »

That will make her situation worse not better.



Its too late. Things like this need to be done before care is known to be likely. As le loup says, this would be classed as deprivation of assets. Also, does she really want to be at the mercy of local authority care?

That's exactly what I thought.

OK, I've now got some direction, let's see what I can find.

Thanks

0james0

It's a real shame, the fact that those who work and save only end up having all of their money taken away again later in life. Yet others who never worked are in the room next door to my gran for free!

Does anyone know how it would work if she was to loan my sister some money to buy a house. It would not be a gift, so would that avoid the deprevation of assets issues?

dunstonh

It's a real shame, the fact that those who work and save only end up having all of their money taken away again later in life.

The can plan to avoid it though.

Although there is the old saying that you save for a rainy day.

Does anyone know how it would work if she was to loan my sister some money to buy a house. It would not be a gift, so would that avoid the deprevation of assets issues?

The income from the loan would be considered income for means test purposes. If no income is paid on the loan then it would be treated as deprivation of assets. If you are thinking peppercorn rates then forget it. They have that covered

0james0

the more I look into it, I think the best plan is to invest the money and the interest + pension income should be enough to cover her costs, without any state intervention. This would avoid any worry of asset deprevation should she want to give any away.

Appreciate all the help, it's a shame we are going to have to do things so honestly!

ultrawomble

0james0 wrote: »

It's a real shame, the fact that those who work and save only end up having all of their money taken away again later in life. Yet others who never worked are in the room next door to my gran for free!

Bluntly speaking, you want the tax-payer to pick up the care bill so you can pick up the inheritance.

0james0

ultrawomble wrote: »

Bluntly speaking, you want the tax-payer to pick up the care bill so you can pick up the inheritance.

In a way yes, but I'm genuinley not worried about getting any money from my gran. My gripe is that someone who works and saves should be in a better position than someone who hasn't.

It's a shame to have no real help until all of your savings have been eaten away. Like my Gran said to me today, if she knew it would have been like this they would have never worked so hard to save it all, they could have enjoyed life more instead of saving so hard.

But that's by the by, I'm not here to debate the rights and wrongs of our society.

margaretclare

Look up 'Immediate Needs Annuity'. This might be another avenue to explore.