Any way to put a second property in trust for disabled son?

shambolics

Some of this Deprivation of assets is rather bizarre e.g. 'paying off a debt' and 'expensive holidays and extravagant Living'. Who defines the last two, isn't that called making the best of life and when did it become illegal to pay off a debt?

NAR

shambolics wrote: »

Sorry about that, but the disabled are under attack from all quarters at present, you have no idea what it is like. People are becoming increasingly aggressive towards the disabled and it makes anybody involved a little testy. Don't forget we are also 'the taxpayers of this land'.

No problem, I do understand where you are coming from. However the rules on DOA are very strict and all I was trying to do was point out the pitfalls.

jackyann

I would approach either a charity that campaigns for / understands your specific condition, or one of the big general ones, or AgeUK.
At least one of these can put you in touch with trusted legal / financial advisors who are used to drawing up these trusts, and understand the implications.

Sw10

If your mother is fit and well and there is no likelihood of her needing to go into a care home in the reasonably forseeable future then she can of course put her 2nd property in trust if she wishes to do so.

However, if she goes along to a solicitor and says that she wants to do this because she is worried about paying care home fees in the future - the solicitor will most likely tell her that her wish to avoid such fees by creating the trust isn't achievable. This is because she will have already created a record (in the solicitor's notes) which confirms that she wishes to deprive herself of an asset to avoid paying fees. Therefore, if she later goes into a care home and has to produce evidence of her reasons for setting up the trust, this is the only record that she could really produce.

But, if she goes along to a solicitor and says that she wishes to set up a trust to provide a fund for the care and welfare of her disabled son for the rest of his life and that she doesn't wish to burden him with the trouble of dealing with probate or the delays and expense of doing so. This is the record that is created on the solicitor's file and the solicitor will be able to proceed with the trust.

If your mother does the latter and later goes into a care home, the solicitor's notes can be produced to show that there were perfectly legitimate reasons for setting up the trust that had nothing at all to do with the avoidance of care home fees - and that would counter any suggestion by the local authority that she had deliberately deprived herself of an asset to avoid paying the fees.

This is how all of these "Asset Protection Trusts" work. It is all about documenting legitimate reasons for setting up the trust and creating documentary evidence to prove these reasons. Everyone has these perfectly legitimate reasons. It's just a case of identifying them and ensuring that they are properly recorded.

Oh, and provided that the trust is a "discretionary trust" they can usually be run to maximise the benefit for you without affecting your state benefits.

jackyann

What sw10 suggests works well from the pov of the mother. I would suggest specialist advice to make sure it works from the pov of the beneficiary.
I can't go into details because times & rules change, but I have known people with disabilities who where left money; then have had difficulty accessing some kinds of help, or who have been "taken advantage of" by people who pretended to be friends. So I think it is important that someone who understands the implications for the disabled son is involved is setting up the trust as well (depends a lot on the kind of disability)

paddedjohn

Leave things as they are and if your mother does need to go into care she can use the rental income towards her fees.

Benclark88

shambolics wrote: »

Some of this Deprivation of assets is rather bizarre e.g. 'paying off a debt' and 'expensive holidays and extravagant Living'. Who defines the last two, isn't that called making the best of life and when did it become illegal to pay off a debt?

From my understanding you would need to setup an Asset Protection Trust. As your mother is fit and healthy it would not be considered a deliberate deprivation.

I saw an article in the Mail on Sunday around being wary of certain "legal advisors" who create Trusts that are invalid and easily challenged due to the way they are marketed. Later in the article it mentioned a "reputable trust provider" in Denning Legal. I'm in talks with them so will let you know how I get on.

please update me with how you get on with your search

Ben

:beer: