Can Mum give me money?

noelphobic

SailorSam wrote: »

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.

I can't see how it is OK to allow people to give away their pensions so their children can buy houses but it is also OK to take sick people's homes from them in order to fund their care.

It has been said that

"The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

on that basis our government fails the test miserably - I include all political parties in that.

The NHS was introduced with the promise of looking after people from the cradle to the grave. Those who were instrumental in its introduction will be dizzy from turning in their own graves.

BobQ

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?

To pay inheritance tax your mother has to die and have an estate of about £300K (look up exact figure). If the LA are paying some of her care fees I must assume that her assets were not this high.

Yes she can give 50K away and she can give it to you. A more sensible thing to have done was to put part of the house in her name. Then the case would be clear cut.

The big issue (and you seem to want to ignore it ) is what the LA were told about the flat (ie has she ever owned a property). If whoever completed the form lied about it they could be accused of fraud so the LA needs to be told the true position asap. If they answered truthfully then this is not an issue.

Because the transfer of the money was very recent, its going to be difficult to prove that it was not deprivation of assets. Your mother may not have expected this but had it happend in five years time the problem would still have arisen.

That said there is unlikely to be a need to sell your house especially if you can afford to pay the care fees. If not the LA will probably give you the option of putting a charge on the property which would be redeemed when the house was sold. A charge is much the same as you have for a mortgage, preventing the sale without settling the debt) This would require you to accept that in effect it is deprivation of assets. But had she owned say a quarter of your house they would have done the same.

If your mother lives long enough to use all the money then you will have to deal with this charge when you next move house. If your mother only lives a a short time, you will have to consider how you deal with your sister.

noelphobic

BobQ wrote: »

That said there is unlikely to be a need to sell your house especially if you can afford to pay the care fees. If not the LA will probably give you the option of putting a charge on the property which would be redeemed when th house was sold. This would require you to accept that in effect it is deprivation of assets. But had she owned say a quarter of your house they would have done the same.

If your mother lives long enough to use all the money then you will have to deal with this charge when you next move house. If your mother only lives a a short time, you will have to consider how you deal with your sister.

Interesting point and one which hadn't occurred to me. It should have done because there is a legal charge on my mum's property which has not yet been sold.

What would happen if the OP lived in the property for another 30 or 40 years? Would the LA really just sit on their hands?

Another option, would be to try to obtain fully funded NHS continuing care, in which case no fees would be payable and the money given to the OP would be irrelevant. However this would be unlikely to be granted quickly if at all so is in some respects a completely separate issue, although not irrelevant.

noelphobic

Thamesview wrote: »

They asked me if she owned any property and I said no because she didn't at the time. I told them about how her husband threw her out of his council house and then divorced her a couple of years ago. My brother bought her the flat before he died.

was the flat bought privately or was it a council flat bought at discount under a right to buy scheme? If it was privately purchased it's a pity it wasn't in his name - assuming it wasn't.

It sounds like you have had a lot to deal with, looking after your mum and losing your brother also.

BobQ

bryanb wrote: »

My advice then is to keep your head down and hope they don't re-assess. They reassessed my mother 4 times in 5 years, and then questioned probate when she died

THis was clearly a very stressing time for the OP. Only he knows what he said to the LA and what he signed (and even he may not know if he was distressed at the time).

If he told the truth he has nothing to worry about although clearly many others who have given money away have not been as lucky.

I note the OP's posts above, but I find it difficult to believe that if he mentioned the sale of his Mother's flat to the LA assessor they would not then have asked what had happened to the money. I am not doubting the OP, just wondering how clearly he recalls the assessment

SailorSam

Perhaps if your brother could show some way that the money he paid for the flat was a loan and not a gift, perhaps to be repaid after your Mums death.

noelphobic

SailorSam wrote: »

Perhaps if your brother could show some way that the money he paid for the flat was a loan and not a gift, perhaps to be repaid after your Mums death.

I think the brother is deceased, unless I misunderstood, in which case I apologise.

innovate

SailorSam wrote: »

I wondered this morning if the Govt have plans to change the rules about deprivation of assets. Did anyone see Nick Clegg on the Andrew Marr show. He spoke about allowing parents to give away their pensions to their children to help them buy a house.

I saw that too but I doubt this is of relevance to the OP's situation. Firstly, Nick Clegg talked about securing a house purchase against a pension, not against a sum of money however obtained, and secondly, this is all still totally half-baked and it is completely unlikely to apply retro-actively.

MarcoM

noelphobic wrote: »

The NHS was introduced with the promise of looking after people from the cradle to the grave. Those who were instrumental in its introduction will be dizzy from turning in their own graves.

Or maybe they would disagree with providing expensive interpreting services for people who have never paid into the system or who have no desire to learn the language.

Would you agree that the money put aside for interpreting services could be used to look after people like the OP's mum?

innovate

MarcoM wrote: »

.... people who have never paid into the system or who have no desire to learn the language.....

quite....especially since this includes the huge number of people who were born in Britain, to British parents who have never lived anywhere else but in Britain.