Can Mum give me money?

Thamesview

noelphobic - no, my Mum definately did not give me money just so that she did not need to pay for care fees. My mum gave me the money for me to buy another house so that she could move in and that I could look after her ( I work full time but was willing to do this for my mum).
The LA assessed her income, savings and because she only had a few thousand in savings, they didnt charge her full rate. I pay for all her personal needs, out of my own salary.
It's just that I bought the house that she never moved into.

Thamesview

what question have I ignored?

noelphobic

Thamesview wrote: »

noelphobic - no, my Mum definately did not give me money just so that she did not need to pay for care fees. My mum gave me the money for me to buy another house so that she could move in and that I could look after her ( I work full time but was willing to do this for my mum).
The LA assessed her income, savings and because she only had a few thousand in savings, they didnt charge her full rate. I pay for all her personal needs, out of my own salary.
It's just that I bought the house that she never moved into.

I think you might be misunderstanding me. I have never said that I believe that your mum gave you money to avoid paying care fees. I take what you say on face value and have no reason to doubt you.

The important thing is how the LA view it and no one hear can tell you what their view would be. How long has your mum been in a home and how long is it since the financial assessment was done?

noelphobic

Thamesview wrote: »

what question have I ignored?

The person who wrote post 8 said that one of the questions that is asked when a financial assessment is done is 'have you (the person needing care) ever owned a property', or something along those lines.

SailorSam

noelphobic wrote: »

It is absolutely heart breaking and it adds insult to injury that people who are as ill as this are expected to pay for their own care. There would be outrage if hospital patients were expected to pay hundreds of pounds every week for their care and this is no different as far as I'm concerned.

It is good that your mum has someone who cares so much and I hope the home is looking after her well.

Although i agree with you Noel that it does seem terrible, there is a difference between a hospital and a care home, obviously the people in the hospital will be ill and entitled to care, but not everyone in a home is ill, many only need care. And the alternative to them paying for their own care is the rest of us (the taxpayer) pays it. Now you could say that isn't fair on the taxpayer when the person in the home has assets.
You can argue from now till doomsday who is right in this situation and both sides have good reason to think it's them.

bryanb

Thamesview wrote: »

what question have I ignored?

How was the LA question regarding whether your mum owned or had ever owned property answered. It's a standard question on LA assesments for care funding.

noelphobic

SailorSam wrote: »

Although i agree with you Noel that it does seem terrible, there is a difference between a hospital and a care home, obviously the people in the hospital will be ill and entitled to care, but not everyone in a home is ill, many only need care. And the alternative to them paying for their own care is the rest of us (the taxpayer) pays it. Now you could say that isn't fair on the taxpayer when the person in the home has assets.
You can argue from now till doomsday who is right in this situation and both sides have good reason to think it's them.

I think that nearly everyone in a care home and definitely everyone in a nursing home is ill. No one would want to live there if they didn't have to.

When my mum died she was doubly incontinent, bed ridden, mute and probably blind. She weighed around 5 and a half stone. She got better care in the nursing home than she would have done in hospital but she was definitely extremely ill.

She only had assets because she lived extremely frugally. Yes, if she didn't pay the taxpayer would have to, just as they pay for hospital patients. My parents also paid taxes all their lives. I have no problem with my taxes going to look after people in care and nursing homes, there are lots of more questionable things that taxes are paid on.

However, I don't want to hijack this thread so will leave it there.

Plus you haven't told me how people will live when they have given their pensions away to their children!

Thamesview

Thank you everyone....

Now I'm wondering if the Law says she's allowed to give £50,000 away.....and if I'm allowed to receive it...... I had heard somewhere that you're only allowed to give away a few thousand otherwise it's classed as trying to give money away to avoid inheritence tax?

SailorSam

noelphobic wrote: »

what will the parents live on if they do that?

Once most of the assets are gone, then they'll get help in the way of benefits.
I think it's £16k i assets you can keep. Over that you need to pay. Years ago it wasn't like that, people could get their care home paid but today the Govt hasn't got the money.
Think of it like, if Prince Charles went into a home you'd expect William and Harry to sell his house before they asked you for money to keep him.

noelphobic

Thamesview wrote: »

Thank you everyone....

Now I'm wondering if the Law says she's allowed to give £50,000 away.....and if I'm allowed to receive it...... I had heard somewhere that you're only allowed to give away a few thousand otherwise it's classed as trying to give money away to avoid inheritence tax?

Inheritance Tax is a completely different matter. It only comes into play if the estate is over a certain amount and if money is given away more than 7 years before death then it is not counted for the purposes of inheritance tax.

You are allowed to give away as much as you want but the implications when someone is in care are what the issue is.