Probate, Inheritance, Debts, Eldery... I have a tricky situation. Help!

...stuck

Hi All,

I would love it if anyone could give me some guidance, I'm pretty stuck.

Here is, in great detail, my situation.

Sadly, in Aug 2011, my mum passed away suddenly aged only 49. The only asset in her estate was her house, owned outright with no mortgage. Around 20k of debt was accumulated on a few credit cards and one bank loan.

My grandmother had a tenancy with the council in this house since 1974 and my parents purchased the house in 1992 as a good investment and using the discount that had been accumulated. Nan was in complete agreement with this and the purchase was funded by my parents but transferred into my grandmothers name and held in trust until 1995 when it was transferred to my parents jointly.

In 1999 my parents divorced, dad staying in the family home and my mum moved to live in the house in question with my nan. The house was then transferred into just my mums name. From around the year 2000 onwards my nan has developed dementia and her mental condition deteriorated. At the time of my mums passing she worked full time and was my nans main carer.

I was 26 when my mum died and have a young family. I was appointed executor of the will, of which my sister (who was pregnant with her first child at the time ) and I are the only beneficiaries. My mum has 2 sisters and 3 brothers, all of which are not really that involved with my nan, maybe visiting once or twice per year. My auntie contacted social services and 2 carers per day were sent round to the house until everything could be sorted. Since then, my nans health has gone downhill. She has 4 carer visits per day and a hot meal delivered which she maybe eats only once or twice a week. Other than that she lives on sandwiches and tea.

I am getting phone calls and letters from the companies owed money and obviously wanting it asap. They have suggested remortgaging the house, which is now in mine and my sisters names, but we can't afford the repayments as well as both having families. Niether of us are homeowners, both rent. There was a best intrests meeting held in early september last year, to which all of the family were asked to attend, along with the head of social services and others dealing with my nans care. I was the only person from the family that attended the meeting. Not even her own children made the effort. It was decided by all in attendance that she is unsafe living alone. She has been having falls, smashed a window, burns, 10+ hospital emergencies etc the list goes on.

I was told after the outcome of the meeting that she should be placed into residential care by christmas at the latest. Today I have been told that social services want her to live in her home for as long as possible and they aren't sure when, if at all, now that she will move out.

All I want is for my nan to be safe and to sell the house, pay the debts and split what is left with my sister, then move on. This whole ordeal is just prolonging the grief process, every week I get letters address to my deceased mother, c/o of me and its just constant reminders. More importantly though, my nan isn't safe!! Every time something goes wrong, I get the phone call and deal with what has happened, which included christmas day just gone.

What can I do to help get her out and into a safe place? Do I resort to evicting her for her own good? can I even legally do this?

Sorry for the long story, just wanted to cover all areas. Any questions please do ask! Any help/advice will be greatly received as this is so stressful.

Thanks
Adam

getmore4less

Tough one.

Lets deal with nan first. if SS won't do anthing yet, next time she is admitted to hospital make sure that no one in the family agrees to her returning to her own home as it is not safe. insist on a full assesment
That might get something done allthough it will depend on the trusts some will bat them back to the GP as quick as they can

In the mean time hound the GP AIUI they are responsible, make it easier for them to do something rather than have to put up with contant harasment.

We went through a little of this with my mother some fundholders will do anything to get a patient off their books if they can so try to pass you on.


Now to the estate.

I don't think you should have transfered the house into your names before settling the debts but that is done now and the intention is to pay them off once sold.

I think you probably need to get the house on the market anyway unless there is any right to stay been built into the agreements.

Does anyone have LPA for nan?

Is it not suitable for you or your sister to keep, might work out better than renting.

...stuck

thanks for the reply,

1. what is the GP AIUI?
2. what does LPA mean?

The solicitor transferred the house as part of the arrangements. We have both considered keeping the house as it has been in our family for years but my mum actually died there and neither of us can accept living there. As far as I can see in all the paperwork there is no right to stay incorporated along the way.

Thanks again

getmore4less

GP general practice
AIUI as I understand it
LPA https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

elsien

Ditto the advice on the assessment.
Next time she's in hospital, write a letter detailing your concerns about her safety, ability to live safely at home and whether or not she has capacity to make her own decisions. Ask that if there are queries about her capacity an advocate is involved for her, as although she has family, there is a potential conflict of interest due to the housing/finance situation. (This is for your own peace of mind as well as to look after nan, as if she has someone representing her wishes in any decision making, you're less likely to feel as if you're evicting her if that is the final decision.) Give one copy to the ward sister, ensure that one gets to the hospital social work team (via the ward sister if you need to) and send one to her GP.
The hospital social workers are a different team to the community team so may initially be of slightly more use. They can look into the possibility of her receiving respite in a care home after her discharge while other options are considered. In my relatives case, she had 6 weeks in care to consider her options, have physiotherapy to rebuild her strength and assess her walking and then to decide whether she was willing and/or able to return home.

The capacity is the issue though - if a best interests decision was made on her behalf then as if there is a query over that. Although as capacity can change over time, you may need to go through the process again. If she does have capacity to make her own choices, then the bottom line is that it's down to her whether she stays or goes.

...stuck

the AIUI bit threw me!

One of my uncles has control of nans finances so I guess he has obtained the property and financial affairs LPA.

My aunties and uncles are all in agreement she isn't safe in the house and should move to residential care. My nan has a decent amount of money behind her, around 40k at a guess. As far as I am aware we can't just use her money to pay for a home as it has to be approved??

...stuck

thank you Elsien, I shall certainly do that. It has been a while since she last went in but I will prep a letter just in case.

RAS

You could just use the money to pay for a home but you would be seriously ill advised to do that.

If you choose the home and the money runs out, the Council may refuse to take any responsibility for payments. In one case I know they council were the home was refused to pay the care home fees becasue the lady did not live in their area before she moved into the home.

if you throw it on them, they pick the home and assess the amount of the fees nan has to pay and then pick up the tab when the money drops below £23K. UNcle needs to ask for an assessment.

...stuck

thank you ras.

Completely understand re. the money running out. This is why we are in the situation of waiting for the council services to arrange it.

Problem is, uncle is the slowest person ever, doesn't have much input and lives a 9 hour drive away. Its incredibly hard to get him to do anything at all.

Mojisola

...stuck wrote: »

I am getting phone calls and letters from the companies owed money and obviously wanting it asap. They have suggested remortgaging the house, which is now in mine and my sisters names, but we can't afford the repayments as well as both having families.

I don't think you should have transferred the ownership into your names because the debts should always be paid from an estate before anything is given to the beneficiaries.

...stuck

hi moji,

I have no idea how to deal with an estate, having just lost my mum I was thrown into the situation and this was just what the solicitor offered to do so I assumed it had to be done.

Is it possible to sell a house that is registered to a deceased person?