Pre-payment of funeral costs: deprivation of capital?

Pollycat

Hi
I wasn't sure where the best place to put this was so I've plumped for here.

My Dad died last week and (as I've posted on the "Can I cope with applying for probate on my own" thread), I'm dealing with stuff for my Mum.

With her thoughts on Dad's funeral, she's been talking about pre-paying for her own funeral.

I know that AgeUK do a service but she noticed a sign in the local funeral director's office saying they offer a pre-payment service.

If she did this (we're possibly talking around £3K based on AgeUK's plan) would the Department of Work and Pensions (and possibly local & county councils) consider this as 'Deprivation of Capital?

Dad went into a care home mid July and I worked through lots of financial information then and this phrase came up a lot.

Thanks for any advice.

monkeyspanner

I would have thought that this would have been considered normal expenditure. But if not consideration of deliberate deprivation of assets is normally done for the period when there is a possibility of needing a care home placement in the near future so if your Mum is in reasonably good health now there is no need to worry. Although it has to be said that the council can review disposal of assets for any period into the past they consider relevant. The worst that could happen is that your Mum would be considered to still have the asset when the financial assessment for assistance with care home fees is done. The other alternative would be to set aside an amount in a separate account rather than hand it over to a third party.

Pollycat

Thanks, monkeyspanner.

I must admit that for an organisation to not allow someone who is coming up to 80 to pre-pay for her own funeral out of her own savings if that is her wish sounds pretty harsh - and if any organisation said it was Deprivation of Capital, I'd fight it to the death.

She is in pretty good health so maybe it's a good time to sort something out (or at least later when things are not still so raw).

Savvy_Sue

I'd phone AgeUK and ask them. I have a feeling that it's one of the things you CAN buy without it being DDA, but I'm no expert. Also look seriously at doing anything which would help Mum stay independent - I think you said they were in a sheltered flat, so probably nothing in your case, but it may be relevant for others.

Errata

According to this http://www.thenationalcareline.org/index.php?node=Money+-+funeral+plans
taking out a pre-paid funeral plan is not considered to be deprivation of assets.

mary-op

If it helps, my mum took out a funeral plan once she was in the care home and the house was sold. She paid the full sum and it was never considered that she had deliberately reduced her money to do this.

Whiteknight

Does not sound like deprivation to me, she has obviously seen what has been needed to sort out your fathers affairs and wants to make it a little easier for those that would need to sort out her funeral. If she was asked she would only need to tell them this and if she is already getting any income based benefits provide evidence of the expenditure.

Pollycat

OK guys - thanks so much for the replies, and to Errata for the link.

I think this is what we'll do, once Mum feels up to it.

She has a specific company in mind (rather than going the AgeUK route), we used them for Dad's funeral on Wednesday and they were excellent (I've even told my OH that I want to use them).

I did notice a sign on their door that said they do pre-payment so when I pop up to pay the bill, I'll do some preliminary enquiries so that when Mum has her savings sorted, we can arrange it.

Thanks again.