Advice re. nursing costs

elsien

My grandmother was in a home where most people were state funded. I'd have closed it if it were down to me - godawful place. And to put in bluntly. other than to pass it down to family, what else is she going to do with it?


If she loses capacity and you're making decisions for her, I'm guessing you'd want the best possible outcome for her. Maybe you need to get through to your grandmother that in the worst case scenario (which may not happen anyway) you'd rather see her looked after well than have her live her time out with poor quality care so she can give her family more after she's gone. That's the sort of conversation I wish I'd had more of with my gran.


Edit - your nan's county council website may have more relevant information about elder care in her area. My council is certainly looking more to keeping people at home and using assistive technology as it's cheaper for them than people going into care homes.

kitkatt1982

Southend1 wrote: »

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?

Thanks for responding. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted this. However, as I'm sure you can understand it is a very sensitive subject when I am genuinely trying to help and did take offense when the first reply I received branded her immoral or illegal!

I didn't really wish to go into further detail, but will give some more info if it helps, basically she has saved all the pension she has been able to to make provision for future possible care needs. My father (her son) has been forced into early retirement due to 50 years of ill health. Should she pass before him (which is unlikely but possible) she wishes to leave her house to him so that he can have some quality of life before he dies (which was one of the main reasons they bought the house in the first place), rather than have to sell it to fund her own healthcare needs. Therefore what I was seeking out is how much she would have to fund herself (how much more she needs to save) before her house would be considered as an asset, and whether there was any way she could sign the house over to my dad. I'm not trying to defraud anyone, just looking for facts and figures, thanks if you can help with this

kitkatt1982

elsien wrote: »

My grandmother was in a home where most people were state funded. I'd have closed it if it were down to me - godawful place. And to put in bluntly. other than to pass it down to family, what else is she going to do with it?


If she loses capacity and you're making decisions for her, I'm guessing you'd want the best possible outcome for her. Maybe you need to get through to your grandmother that in the worst case scenario (which may not happen anyway) you'd rather see her looked after well than have her live her time out with poor quality care so she can give her family more after she's gone. That's the sort of conversation I wish I'd had more of with my gran.


Edit - your nan's county council website may have more relevant information about elder care in her area. My council is certainly looking more to keeping people at home and using assistive technology as it's cheaper for them than people going into care homes.

Thanks, I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother and I completely agree. I would rather she sold her home and got some quality of care, hopefully I will be able to help but as I'm sure you know there is only so much family can do. Unfortunately, as I just explained to previous poster, she wishes to pass her home onto my father (her son) as he is very ill and she wants it to pay for his care rather than her own which is why she and my grandfather bought the house originally as he was diagnosed in childhood. Will investigate the links you provided, many thanks

elsien

Signing the house over to dad is likely to be where she comes unstuck unless she does it properly with full legal advice.
The first link I gave you gives more information about which assets can be disregarded, however I think once eligible assets reach about 23K then if she does need care she'll have to pay most of the costs.
You need to check out whether the house would count as an eligible asset - does she live on her own or does your father live with her?


Then just to throw another spanner in the works, depending on any health needs there is a small possibility that she could apply for NHS continuing healthcare which would mean more of her costs would be paid for her.
To be honest, it's all a bit "how long is a piece of string", there are so many possible variables.

kitkatt1982

Full legal advice is being sought, just wanted some info to go in with. Does anyone know anything about the proposed care cap?

kitkatt1982

* Just reading Age UK factsheet

elsien

Here you go, more light reading for you re whether the house may or may not be included as an asset.
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS38_Treatment_of_property_in_the_means-test_for_permanent_care_home_provision_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

elsien

kitkatt1982 wrote: »

Full legal advice is being sought, just wanted some info to go in with. Does anyone know anything about the proposed care cap?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23348830

And a comment piece slightly more recently. Looks like another one that's going to have to be tested in practice before anyone can see how it's really going to work.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/longtermcare/10644271/Why-care-home-fees-cap-may-not-prevent-the-sale-of-your-home.html

laurel7172

As far as I can tell, the care cap seems to be fairly meaningless, unless one is prepared to put Granny in the cheapest possible home (only the minimum fee counts towards it) and/or ship her out from the nice home she has been paying for as soon as the cap is reached. Neither of which I would be prepared to do in order to increase "my" inheritance.

It's a difficult one when your grandmother wants to provide care for your father. However, hopefully she won't need long term care (few actually do) and perhaps you could point out to her that sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose...that if she is uncomfortable imagining your father dependent on lowest-denominator care, you and he aren't happy at the prospect of that for her either...

kitkatt1982

Thanks Laurel, I agree with you on this, do you know where I could actually get figures on this? I've read through so much on this but can't seem to get any specific answers apart from case law. As I said, I'm surprised at how poorly this is covered. We will be seeking solicitor advice but thought I may have been able to gain a bit of knowledge before going in but still completely clueless!

Please could someone tell me
How much she would have to pay out of her pension / savings for nursing care? (Residential is not a consideration, we're thinking dire straights)
How much help she would get and for how long?
If she and I both sold our houses to buy somewhere bigger for her to live with us would there be any tax implications and how would we fund additional nursing needs?
What would happen if my dad were to move in with her?
If no-one is able to answer these questions then I will go into the Solicitors for advice. However, I feel it is really worrying that so far I have found no clear-cut answers to my questions when everything else is so readily available.