Husband in care home what happens to house

rachelhen

Just looking for advice from anyone who has already been there.
My dad has decided he want to live in a care home and has moved out. Mum is worried what will happen tothe house which she lives in due to cost of care home.
She is also worried about the share of bills that dad pays i.e council tax and a service charge (its older people's housing)
Does anyone know how these things work out?
Thanks

sock-knitter

she will get a single person discount if she lives alone, the service charge will be payable by your mum, but shouldnt be a large amout
is it sheltered housing, that your mum is in?

cte1111

I'm presuming your parents own the house. What is likely to happen is that there will be a financial assessment to decide whether your Dad has to pay for his care home fees. It is likely that he will need to pay at least some of the costs, in which case any savings will be used up then a charge placed on the house. This means that when your Mum no longer needs the house, the charge will be taken from the sale of the house.

rachelhen

its not sheltered like the council do but they have a pull cord thing. I actually think its rubbish compared to council sheltered housing. thanks for your help

Gavin83

How severe are his needs? He can't just decide to move into a care home and expect the LA to pay for it so unless they determine he requires a placement he'll have to find the money himself. Where this money comes from is for him and your mum to decide.

Savvy_Sue

It might be helpful if you a) gave a bit more info, if you feel able and b) asked the Board Guides to move this to the Over 50s board.

You haven't said if they own their current property, or if they're renting. I know you said they had a pull-cord, but it could be either!

Has Dad decided this because he's not well / less mobile than he was and concerned that he can't manage independently any more, and doesn't want Mum to have to look after him? Or has he decided to split up with Mum, and this is his way of doing it?

And if it's the latter, is this 'in character'? Does he seem himself?

What income do they each have now?

Pollycat

Rachel
there's so much help and advice that people can give you on this subject (my Dad went into a care home leaving my Mum in a Council-owned warden-controlled flat and I dealt with the financial side) but as Savvy_Sue says, you would need to provide more information than you have so far so that people can understand your Dad's AND Mum's situation and how it will affect them financially as 2 separate people.

For example, when my Dad went into a care home, my Mum became eligible for Guarantee Pension Credit and therefore became entitled to Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit.

rachelhen

Thanks it was a bit garbled.
The situation. Dad does need 24hr care mum can't manage as she is in poor health but better then he is: he has falls double incontinence vasular dementia. He intitially was sent there from hospital but he loves it and wants to stay.
Mum is worrying as he pays some bills the service charge and council tax. They own the property it is a small flat ina kind of shelterd accommodation but all they have as emergency back up is a pull cord. Also he wants me to manage hi financial affairs but loathe to go through power of attorney due to cost and length of time it takes. He has become muddled over finances. Despite all of his ill health he remains inteligent and converted his weight from kg to stones and pounds immediately that the nurse said it. He retains some things really well but forgot that I have visited.

Savvy_Sue

rachelhen wrote: »

Thanks it was a bit garbled.
The situation. Dad does need 24hr care mum can't manage as she is in poor health but better then he is: he has falls double incontinence vasular dementia. He intitially was sent there from hospital but he loves it and wants to stay.
Mum is worrying as he pays some bills the service charge and council tax. They own the property it is a small flat ina kind of shelterd accommodation but all they have as emergency back up is a pull cord. Also he wants me to manage hi financial affairs but loathe to go through power of attorney due to cost and length of time it takes. He has become muddled over finances. Despite all of his ill health he remains inteligent and converted his weight from kg to stones and pounds immediately that the nurse said it. He retains some things really well but forgot that I have visited.

TBH I'm not sure you have an option about going for PofA: I think you know that your Dad's going to get worse not better, and getting it sorted out while he retains 'capacity' is going to be a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than waiting until he's lost it completely.

He could give PofA jointly to you and your mother, if it would make either of you feel better.

However I think your mum needs some proper advice about her situation: now she's living alone she's certainly entitled to a council tax discount, and she may be able to claim Pension Credit etc.

Is there anyone at the care home who can help with this? Or can they suggest where you go for help? As websites, Age UK and Counsel and Care would be good starting points.

Of course, another question is whether your mother wants to remain living alone, or whether she'd prefer to move in with your dad. I'm sure my dad would have researched care homes very seriously if he'd thought there was any chance of mum coming with him ... but she was adamant she was staying at home!

Pollycat

Rachelhen
If you look on the Counsel & Care website (Savvy_Sue has given the link) there are some excellent guides that will clarify a lot of things for you.

Start with Guide #16 - Care Home Fees - Paying them in England.

Have you spoken to anyone from your local council social services office about your Dad?

This is where we started when it became obvious that Mum couldn't cope with Dad herself.

When Dad went into the home our County Council sent out a financial assessor to see Mum and I who went through everything they had jointly and what Dad had separately (that's savings, money in current accounts and benefits/pensions) and worked out what benefits/pensions of Dad's would be taken towards his care home fees, what he was allowed to keep and how much he would have to pay towards the fees.
As I said previously, he was self-funding.

I believe that a wife can take 50% of occupational & private pensions but we rejected that as it would just have reduced the amount of Pension Credit Mum would get in her own right (See section 3.4 of guide #16).

Primary Health Needs and Continuing Health Care (CHC).
If your Dad is deemed to have Primary Health Needs, his care may be paid for by the NHS.
I understand this is incredibly hard to get agreed.
Check out the Counsel & Care guide #27:
"Continuing Healthcare: Should the NHS be paying for your care? "

As my Mum & Dad didn't own any property I didn't go into what would happen to that but I believe Section 3.12 of guide #16 explains what happens to property.

Factsheets #8 & #9 might also be useful - they explain about choosing to sell or not to sell property to fund care.

Re managing your Dad's affairs:
I was made appointee by the DWP so I was responsible for paying care home fees.
They paid all his benefits/pensions to me in my name and I had to sort out the remainder of the fees from his savings.
I decided to set up a separate bank account in my name for his money from DWP to be paid into.
It was a simple process, a woman from DWP came out to see us both at the care home to see if he was really not capable of managing his own affairs.
In Dad's case, all it took was a couple of questions but it sounds like your Dad is a fair bit more 'with it'.

Are your MUm & Dad getting Pension Credit?
If they are and it's a joint payment, you'll need to arrange for a (I think) dis-association which will allow both of them to claim as individuals.
On the Directgov website there's a pension credit estimator.
I entered my Mum's details and classed her as being single and the amount of Pension Credit it estimated was exactly the amount the DWP started paying her.
Might be worth doing if your Mum is worrying about her income.

Has anyone at the care home spoken to you or your Mum about paying fees?

Hope your OH is recovering well from his recent surgery, BTW.

rachelhen

Thanks Pollycat for your helpful postand remembering that I have a husband who has just had surgery. He is doing really well I have to say it amazes me what the body can go through. x