Putting home into family trust to avoid nursing home fees

ticktack_2

punchyuk wrote: »

I always thought forums like this were partly here to share information and ideas not to berate people for asking for help?

But if you come on a pensioners' forum making offhand remarks about your 67-year-old pensioner mother having "a few years left before she starts dribbling in her tea", and asking advice about arranging for her property to be gifted to you, you should be prepared for negative reactions. Frankly, it doesn't make a very good impression. There are plenty of adult children trying to find out how to get hold of their parent's property. If you don't want to run the risk of being suspected of being one of their number, you could always decide to leave it to your mother, and/or her partner, to make their own enquiries about their financial affairs.

punchyuk

ticktack wrote: »

But if you come on a pensioners' forum making offhand remarks about your 67-year-old pensioner mother having "a few years left before she starts dribbling in her tea", and asking advice about arranging for her property to be gifted to you, you should be prepared for negative reactions. Frankly, it doesn't make a very good impression. There are plenty of adult children trying to find out how to get hold of their parent's property. If you don't want to run the risk of being suspected of being one of their number, you could always decide to leave it to your mother, and/or her partner, to make their own enquiries about their financial affairs.

My apologies.
I did not realise it was a pensioner's forum

The "dribbling in her tea" comment, whilst I can understand might not be taken in the satrical way it was written, I can assure you was merely gallows humour.
Perhaps if you were to read my posts again with an open mind rather than a negative one, you might have realised I am attempting to get what is best for my mother. Had you bothered to read my posts in their entirity before joining the lynch mob then you would of realised that!

I am genuinely asking these questions for both of us and not just with my "pension fund" in mind. I am beginning to take offence at the insinuation that I am the one being selfish.

I want my mother to fully benefit from savings and property before she is too old to enjoy it or kicks the bucket. (there you go, another chance for some of you to jump on me for being insensitive/flippent) hence the reason I am asking all these questions. My mother has asked me to find out more about all this.

I would genuinely appreciate the constructive comments and advice from all the pensioners on here or indeed the children who are hell bent on stealing their parent's ( you'll notice the position of the apostophe ) property.

Mojisola

punchyuk wrote: »

I want my mother to fully benefit from savings and property before she is too old to enjoy it or kicks the bucket. (there you go, another chance for some of you to jump on me for being insensitive/flippent) hence the reason I am asking all these questions. My mother has asked me to find out more about all this.

Wouldn't the best thing be for your mother to carry on with her life, doing all the things she's doing now within the limits of her health and finances? If she ever needs residential care, she will be able to sell her house and choose which home she wants to go into.

How will she benefit from giving you her home?

margaretclare

Well, the fact that this board is headed 'Over 50s Money-saving' might have given a clue.

There is much more in life, much that is enjoyable, apart from golf and long-haul flights. DH and I have recently discovered astronomy, for example.

I summarised your post in the way it seemed to come over to me. The fact that many people seem to have agreed with me may illustrate the way it comes over to others.

On Martin's site we do get a lot of this kind of thing 'how can I save my inheritance', 'how can I stop the government stealing all Mum's money' and similar. Once you've read a few of these you tend to react 'oh, not another one'. The sub-text is, of course 'her money should be my money rather than paying for her needs, services and comfort'.

Playing golf may not always be Mum's sport, but don't write off all older women just yet. You should see the women who go to aqua-aerobics where I go. They find ways of staying fit even when the obvious sports no longer do it for them. I know of a woman in her 80s who still goes to a local gym and there are others.

I suggest that your mother comes on here herself and asks the questions that concern her. She may well get a much more reasoned response. Don't, please, tell me that she's 'too old to do computers'. DH has acted as a volunteer in a local 'silver surfers' group and he has set up internet access for 90-year-olds who wanted to speak face-to-face with relatives across the world.

And I should darned well think it IS 'a tad premature' to be visiting care homes! I repeat, it is a minority of people who end their lives in this way.

Mojisola

margaretclare wrote: »

And I should darned well think it IS 'a tad premature' to be visiting care homes! I repeat, it is a minority of people who end their lives in this way.

Visiting a few care homes can be a "wake-up experience" for adult children. I know from reports on these forums that in some areas council funded people get exactly the same care as self-funders but that isn't always the case. I've visited homes in our area that I wouldn't leave an enemy in, let alone my mother!

Before anyone tries to convince their parents that it would be a good idea to pass money over to the next generation, go round a few homes. Which ones would you like your parents to spend their last years in? How much choice you do think your parents should have in choosing where they live or should Social Services make that decision for them?

Pollycat

margaretclare wrote: »

Well, the fact that this board is headed 'Over 50s Money-saving' might have given a clue.

Love it, margaretclare. :T

punchyuk has offered some more information and clarification in later posts - he/she may have got different responses if the full situation had been explained initially.

Pollycat

Mojisola wrote: »

Before anyone tries to convince their parents that it would be a good idea to pass money over to the next generation, go round a few homes. Which ones would you like your parents to spend their last years in? How much choice you do think your parents should have in choosing where they live or should Social Services make that decision for them?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

One of the Counsel and Care guides (I think it's the one called 'Care Homes - what to look for' ends with:
Ask yourself:
Would you want to live there?

PasturesNew

Veryannoyed wrote: »

...we'll be paying over her entire assets (around £300,000) for care home fees at £46,800 a year ...

You're viewing it in a slightly skewed way. Now, I've no idea how much income your mum has, but there are costs associated with running a house too and having the money tied up in the house. e.g., here are some sample figures:
£12,000 - interest at 3% on £300k in best savings accounts
£8,000 - old age pension
£3,000 - attendance allowance at the highest rate
=====
£23,000 Income, plus any private pensions she might have (in a £300k house I'd guess at those being worth £5,000/year)

£4,000 - basic household utility bills
£1,000 - basic house maintenance/replacement of things
£1,000 - meals on wheels for lunch at £3/day
£1,000 - other food
£4,000 - one person to come in two 30-minute slots per day to check on her/nuke an evening meal, or put her to bed.
£2,000 - two visits/week to a local daycare centre to meet people
=====
£13,000 to sit alone in a house, waiting for the next random stranger to pop in for 30 minutes to nuke a meal and then leave.

So the "loss" isn't as much as it looks when you plonk down the fees cost.

OK, the cost of care will go up - and the capital invested in savings will go down..... but it's not all doom/gloom. They get 24/7 care and people around to chat to, nice meals cooked, some activities, no maintenance worries, no random strangers/callers knocking at the door to push their way in.

Mrs_Arcanum

My father left his house in trust for my brother & me. However, he was 19 years older than my Mother so could reasonably expect to die first.

The important thing to consider is to nail down everything within the will. For example all the things in the house were owned as a family but because he did not include chattels my mother had to go round deciding what was his & what was hers. Death duties etc were paid after he died leaving none to pay following my mothers death.

punchyuk

Mojisola wrote: »

Wouldn't the best thing be for your mother to carry on with her life, doing all the things she's doing now within the limits of her health and finances? If she ever needs residential care, she will be able to sell her house and choose which home she wants to go into.

How will she benefit from giving you her home?

Hi Mojisola,

I am hoping that she will indeed be carrying on enjoying life while her finances permit. Hence the reason about spending some of her savings on just that. The Golf club £800 a year plus extras, she runs a nice car and still travels a bit all these extras.
Like I have attempted to explain, the house thing was an idea so we can just use the money, if allowed, for topping up the care home fees as opposed to paying for all of it.
Devious, I realise that, but I am only being honest with you all on here, if not honest with the government.