Transfer of ownership now to minimise care costs?

nblack

Hi

My mother is a very healthy 60-something with a retirement income of <£10K, a house with no mortgage and a reasonable but not huge amount of savings. She has a friend whose family have had to sell a house to care for an elderly parent in residential care and she wants to avoid this in our family. She is interested in transferring ownership of her house to myself and my brother. As a family, we are on extremely good terms - always have been.
My research has raised conflicting information on this subject: it hopefully should circumvent any seven-year rule about potential future cost but it creates inflexibility for her future and some risk if for any reason, something happened to me or my brother or our own circumstances changed.

Any advice? Any alternatives anyone could suggest?

Thanks very much.

EdInvestor

Ownership transfer won't work.

Equity release is something that could be considered.It is a way of getting half the equity out.But she is a little young for that yet.

dunstonh

Dont mistake inheritance tax with local authority care. The 7 year rule applies to inheritance tax only. It has nothing to do with local authority care.

If she transfers ownership of the property to you, it will be viewed as an attempt to obtain benefits and the property will be included in the means test. It also does nothing for inheritance tax as it is classed as gift with reservation and the seven year rule is voided and the value of the property would be included in the estate.