Advice re. nursing costs

kitkatt1982

Hi,

My Grandmother has asked me to accompany her to see a solicitor to plan a new will. She owns her home and receives a state pension as well as my deceased grandfather's occupational pension. Although currently fit and well, she wants to make her own plans for should this not be the case in later life, and wants to try to secure her house rather than losing it to pay for nursing costs should they be required.

Unfortunately this is something I know little about, and so have tried to do some net research so as to be knowledgeable and prepared when going with her, To my surprise, I have discovered nothing remotely useful to help me, and even no forum on here (unless I am in the wrong place!) to guide me.

Please could someone offer me some advice or even somewhere to start?

It's a bit of an awkward situation as I don't know her exact finances, and don't want to ask as this would possibly appear as if I'm after an inheritance. I just want to support her so some general guidance on income thresholds, legislation etc would help.

Many thanks

[Deleted User]

Age UK might be a good place to look.

here is one of their info booklets:

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

Southend1

It sounds like you are asking for advice on how to do something immoral at best; illegal at worst!

elsien

You need to start off looking at this link.


http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/deprivation-of-assets-in-the-means-test-for-care-home-provision/


Trying to leave your home so that it's not used for care fees can be a bit of a legal minefield so proper legal advice should always be sought.
Personally I'm off the opinion that if care is needed I would prefer any relative of mine to use their assets to buy a decent quality of care rather than have to rely on some of the homes that state funding will provide. Aside from all the moral issues of getting the state to pay so the next generation can inherit, money/assets give the person choices they may not have otherwise.
If your gran is fit and healthy, setting up some precautions may be do-able, but she does need to consider all eventualities first. I've seen people gift their house to their kids, then have them refuse to help out in any way at all when help was needed. Money does strange things to people.

Mojisola

kitkatt1982 wrote: »

Please could someone offer me some advice

Start by taking her to visit a few care homes in the area. See whether she would like to spend her days in the cheapest ones (that the local authority would pay for) or the more expensive ones that she could choose for herself.

Tell her that only a small percentage of people end up in care. LAs do their upmost to keep people at home these days. If most of her money is tied up in the house, it will not be counted if she has care at home and the LA will pay most of the costs.

Encourage all the family members who can to take an active role in keeping your Gran at home if that's where she would like to be.

kitkatt1982

Southend1 wrote: »

It sounds like you are asking for advice on how to do something immoral at best; illegal at worst!

I did not come on here for abuse thank-you. I am not trying to do anything illegal or immoral. I am here simply to seek advice to try to help my elderly grandmother plan for herself in a worse case scenario, and try to help her avoid losing her home that she and my grandfather worked their knuckles to the bone to pay for all their lives with no help from anyone else. I am not trying to commit tax-evasion, benefit fraud or anything else so keep your unhelpful opinions to yourself, and find something better to do with your time than coming on here to insult people seeking advice.

kitkatt1982

elsien wrote: »

You need to start off looking at this link.


http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/deprivation-of-assets-in-the-means-test-for-care-home-provision/


Trying to leave your home so that it's not used for care fees can be a bit of a legal minefield so proper legal advice should always be sought.
Personally I'm off the opinion that if care is needed I would prefer any relative of mine to use their assets to buy a decent quality of care rather than have to rely on some of the homes that state funding will provide. Aside from all the moral issues of getting the state to pay so the next generation can inherit, money/assets give the person choices they may not have otherwise.
If your gran is fit and healthy, setting up some precautions may be do-able, but she does need to consider all eventualities first. I've seen people gift their house to their kids, then have them refuse to help out in any way at all when help was needed. Money does strange things to people.

Thanks for this advice, will try out the link. She is trying to consider all eventualities, and if needed I will care for her myself if she becomes ill. Just considering worse case scenario. It's her express wish that she doesn't want to lose her home (not me trying to line my own pockets), she is willing of course to contribute and has made some provision but is worried it won't be enough. Think it's just upset her how hard she and my grandad worked to own their home to have to sell it when her friends have all received state funding.

Mojisola

kitkatt1982 wrote: »

I am here simply to seek advice to try to help my elderly grandmother plan for herself in a worse case scenario, and try to help her avoid losing her home that she and my grandfather worked their knuckles to the bone to pay for all their lives with no help from anyone else.

If she needs to go into residential care, she won't need her home. What would happen to it if it wasn't sold to pay for care - left empty to deteriorate until after she died?

If your Gran is "elderly", then she will have benefitted from the astronomical rise in house prices during her lifetime, just as my parents did. They did work hard to pay their mortgage but they also ended up with a resource worth far more than they had paid for it.

kitkatt1982

Mojisola wrote: »

Start by taking her to visit a few care homes in the area. See whether she would like to spend her days in the cheapest ones (that the local authority would pay for) or the more expensive ones that she could choose for herself.

Tell her that only a small percentage of people end up in care. LAs do their upmost to keep people at home these days. If most of her money is tied up in the house, it will not be counted if she has care at home and the LA will pay most of the costs.

Encourage all the family members who can to take an active role in keeping your Gran at home if that's where she would like to be.

Thanks for this info, yes it is her wish that she would be cared for at home, I will do this myself if at all possible, do you know where I could find info about care at home? Many thanks

Mojisola

AgeUK website has lots of information about care.

If she gets ill enough to qualify for Attendance Allowance, someone can claim Carer's Allowance although she can also pay out of her pensions for home care.

Southend1

kitkatt1982 wrote: »

I did not come on here for abuse thank-you. I am not trying to do anything illegal or immoral. I am here simply to seek advice to try to help my elderly grandmother plan for herself in a worse case scenario, and try to help her avoid losing her home that she and my grandfather worked their knuckles to the bone to pay for all their lives with no help from anyone else. I am not trying to commit tax-evasion, benefit fraud or anything else so keep your unhelpful opinions to yourself, and find something better to do with your time than coming on here to insult people seeking advice.

Sorry you have chosen to interpret my comment as abusive. It certainly wasn't meant as such.

What kind of planning do you think one might be able to do to avoid paying care home fees that one could otherwise afford that isn't immoral or illegal?

As another poster points out, if your gran needs to go into a care home she will no longer have need of her house so what's the problem with selling it to fund her care?