Care homes and house equity after split?

alwayspuzzled

Hi not sure if browsing this board is good for my sanity! I seem to raise more questions every time I look.
Ok my question - if a joint mortgage has provably been paid by one half of a split couple for a long time then if the none paying person has to go into residential care would there still be a forced sale to pay for care? Sorry if that doesn't make sense but I cant seem to phrase it better and I'm really tired but cant sleep for this random long time in the future worry:eek:

Background: Ex and I split up 1.5 yrs ago, we were not married, I have 4 children, 2 are his (6 & 2), we moved out to my moms for 3 months until he found alternative accommodation, then moved back to a house that is jointly owned and jointly mortgaged, since the split he has made no financial contributions, initially the mortgage was paid from a joint account but I was the only contributor (shown via s/o, online transfers etc) but now is paid from my sole account. He has no other family in this area and when his health deteriorates (has type 1 diabetes that he manages very poorly) to such a extent that he can no long look after himself I'm worried that the council will require the sale of the house that I'm paying for and is mine and the childrens' home to pay for his care, this is likely to be before the youngest child is an adult. There is a healthy equity in the house as we did a lot of work to it, but as well as the mortgage I am also paying back the £27.5 k loan that was spent on it, unfortunately this loan was from a (my) family member and I guess not easily provable paper trail wise. It is currently on a self cert interest only mortgage neither of us is in a position to buy the other out and if it was sold I would no longer be able to get a mortgage on my own (self employed tradesperson) to buy anywhere within reasonable distance of the childrens' schools.

Sorry this turned out so long, trying to anticipate what info is required.

Hopefully now having shifted this question to out here my brain may now let me get some sleep ready for work in the morning. Thanks in advance for any help.

zzzLazyDaisy

As far as I know, the LA cannot force a house to be sold to pay for care for one joint owner while the other joint owner is still living in the property. Hopefully someone will be along to confirm this.

However, you do have another problem, which is that as a joint owner your ex continues to be entitled to half the equity in the property, which over time will gradually increase in line with your repayments on the mortgage.

Further, if the house is held as joint tenants (rather than tenants in common) the house will automatically pass to him if you die.

Is there any possibility of you buying him out of his share of the house and having it transferred into your sole name?

coolcait

As ever, can you let us know which part of the UK you are living in - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands etc

Sometimes - for legal reasons - that can have an effect on the answer you get

peachyprice

Yes, I believe Lazy is correct, they cannot force a sale, but they do put a charge against the house to repay the fees once the house is finally sold/joint owner dies. So whilst your home is safe, your equity isn't.

Is this likely to be imminent? If it is you're probably stuffed, it's it's a few years off (over 7) you need to act now. If you were to remove him from the deeds/buy him out and he went into care that could be reversed as it would be considered that that he deliberately did so to avoid paying care fees.

This is a very good fact sheet which explains about care home fess, the various caps, and what you can and can't do with assets

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS40_deprivation_of_assets_in_the_means_test_for_care_home_provision_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

FBaby

If he is on the deeds and mortgage, the first position would always be that he is entitled to a share of the house (depending on whether you are tenants in common or joint tenancy). To evidence that he actually shouldn't be entitled to any equity, you would need to take him to court and convince the judge. The fact that you've paid the full mortgage when together wouldn't in itself be enough of a reason. It might or might not be after you separated.

The reality is that if you don't do anything to severe the current arrangement, you will always be at risk of his having an interest in the house. I assume he is still on the deeds/mortgage because you can't buy him out. Have you discussed it with him? Is he refusing to sell the house all together, or are you not agreeing on how much he should get from the sale?

zzzLazyDaisy

peachyprice wrote: »

If you were to remove him from the deeds/buy him out and he went into care that could be reversed as it would be considered that that he deliberately did so to avoid paying care fees.

If OP buys him out by paying him for his share of the house, deprivation of assets would not be an issue. Of course if he then spends the money with a view to avoiding paying care home fees, DOA might affect him, but that wouldn't be her concern.

Even if he gave away his share of the house to OP, he might be affected by DOA, in which case he would be assessed as if he still has the assets that he has given away - but since there is no power to actually recover the assets, so even then OP would not be legally affected.

OP you need to seek legal advice from a solicitor.