Paying forcare home fees if there is a living spouse

Hillbilly1

Due to a recent family death my OH's siblings are considering investing in a home that either parent could move into if the other had to sell their house to pay for care home fees.

I think that a house would not be sold from under a living spouse - am I wrong?

Also I am aware of contrived tenancies etc - so would having a houseto "rent" to a parent be seen as such and would it affect their pension.

seashore22

I'm no expert on this subject, but two things spring to mind.

If one spouse needs to move to a care home, but the remaining spouse is still living in the family home, then the property does not need to be sold at that point.

About 30 years ago my husband and his siblings bought a property for a parent to live in. No rent was ever charged as they just wanted a safe place for them to live. This has simplified the situation considerably ie no tax to pay on the rent etc.

Hopefully someone with more indepth knowledge will be along to help.

Mojisola

Hillbilly1 wrote: »

I think that a house would not be sold from under a living spouse - am I wrong?

The couple's home would be disregarded - while one of a couple is still living there, its value won't be counted.

Hillbilly1

Thanks Guys, that is what I thought - family going into panic mode!

Savvy_Sue

seashore22 wrote: »

About 30 years ago my husband and his siblings bought a property for a parent to live in. No rent was ever charged as they just wanted a safe place for them to live. This has simplified the situation considerably ie no tax to pay on the rent etc.

I'm no expert either, but while it may have simplified one situation, it's probably complicated a few others: Capital Gains Tax when the property is sold, some other tax bits'n'pieces where the technicalities escape me, but question comes up on the Cutting Tax board from time to time ...

Hillbilly1 wrote: »

Thanks Guys, that is what I thought - family going into panic mode!

And before doing anything they should get decent advice from someone who specialises in this area: there are Inheritance Tax considerations, as well as needing to know what the situation really is wrt going into residential care!

seashore22

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'm no expert either, but while it may have simplified one situation, it's probably complicated a few others: Capital Gains Tax when the property is sold, some other tax bits'n'pieces where the technicalities escape me, but question comes up on the Cutting Tax board from time to time ...

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We are in the process of selling the property at the moment. There may be some capital gains tax to be paid or may be not, due to dependant relatives exemption. Either way it seems a small price to pay. I also think that charging rent would have made the siblings landlords and that would have been far too much trouble.