Sell house give money away to get state care?

seven-day-weekend

Mikedkt wrote: »

Agreed. It is not right she is in a not very nice place at all, if I was in there I would certainly top myself, seriously it would be hell. I have said all along the flat and car should be sold so she can have better care. It's not right anyway to have the taxpayer pay for her care when this couple keep all her money. But what can I do? Is there somewhere I can report how this couple seem to have taken all her wealth so she can qualify for taxpayers to pay for her care?

I think she will be assessed on her assets eventually and they will have no choice but tio sell the flat to pay for her care. (Assuming the flat is in her name).

kingstreet

Assuming the trust(s) were written as part of a Family Estate Plan, the outcome of this, in terms of deprivation of assets, will depend on the time gap between the trust being settled and the need for care being established.

ruggedtoast

To summarise the OP, all the "extra" wealth over and above what is locked in the flat went on one car and some furniture.

The OP's objection is that the relatives are now living in the flat for free apart from the payments on a small mortgage (possibly to increase their case for ownership, and possibly because there isnt as much money in this as he / she believes), whilst enjoying exclusive use of the car and furniture.

Obviously we dont know the make of the car and furniture but this doesnt sound like millions to me.

Care home fees can cost thousands, a month. I know someone paying £700 a week and its not the Ritz or anything, just 24 hour care in a "nice" place.

Maybe your aunt was grateful that these relatives were there for her, living with her and looking after her until she was too sick to be cared for at home; and is happy with this state of affairs?

As far as deprivation of assets, I am not clear who owns these assets. It sounds like she still does. If she has given away most of the sale of the house to the other couple then that was down to her surely?

The tax man and the local health authority may well have something to say about it but I think your chance to get involved in this is long gone.

AMO

ruggedtoast has it right. Your chance to get involved is long gone.

I've seen this so many times. Relatives want an opinion, but don't want to put the effort in themselves and then get concerned about getting a smaller share of inheritance.

From a sceptical perspective, it can be sold as:
- couple eying old aunt with lots of money
- persuade aunt to get flat
- persuage aunt to go into care and give flat to them.

In reality, if this was the case, why get the aunt to trade down in the first place - why not just get her to go straight to care and move into the minted house?

Clearly they weren't thinking of going after her money, but they have a life as well and being able to care for a relative living closer nearby helps. They put in the human effort of visiting and making sure that if she needs help she is close by.

Even though you say 'she isn't that old' you also say 'her minds gone and she only needs 24/7 help'. Seeing as you don't consider that much of a chore, why not volunteer your own services?

Clearly, when the problem got so bad, they just got her to move to a home where she can get better care. Any couple going through life and working can't give 24/7 attention to a relative. It's just financially not possible.

So they do all this for a relative and the only consolation is that they get to move into a nicer flat possibly partly as a thank you. Things may change, but they had put in the effort.

Now comes the time when other relatives swirling above and ready to dive in on inheritance after not lifting a finger for the past X years gets disgruntled and under the guise of 'we want better care for her'?

I think the thing you need to really work out is whether you're happy with other relatives living in the flat for free, whether them living there is currently mainly doing a favour for the aunt who doesn't want the place deserted and also wants to pay back the couple for their time and kindness. And whether you're just worried about missing out.

I am not sure you're concerned about the wellbeing of your aunt - otherwise you'd have been there and would have had a better grip on the situation already.

Tellytuby

Is there a way to report this sort of thing. I know someone who wants to get all the money of a property that has gone up a lot in rencent time from an elderly relative so that it does not need to be sold to pay for old peoples home.

Yorkie1

Is there a way to report this sort of thing.

I have not understood all the thread, but I would think that contacting the council department responsible for dealing with the care would be the way to go.