Declaration of Trust - Care home costs

Forward27

Hi

My wife's Grandparents setup a Declaration of Trust on their property six and-a-half years ago. The Grandparents, Daughter and two Granddaughters all become equal owners of the property.

Sadly the Grandmother passed away 3 years ago and now the Grandfather has been placed in a care home suffering with Dementia. And the property is now empty.

To fund the care home the Local Authority are now expecting to sell the property.

So here are the questions????
• Are they allowed to force the sale of the house without permission of the other owners.
• Can the Local Authority have access to all the sale proceeds even though the property has 4 remaining registered owners with equal shares?
• Whats options do the daughter and two granddaughters have?

Regards

Rob

sinizterguy

Interesting - I guess the time scale will come into play.

Forward27

Are you referring to the 7 year period?

Pixie5740

How did the daughters and granddaughters become owners of the property? Did they pay the market rate for their share or did the grandparents deliberately deprive themselves of part of their asset i.e. their house? It makes a difference as to what the local council might be able to do.

kingstreet

This is beyond the scope of an internet forum.

If there was a proper Family Estate Plan drawn up (usually a combination of wills and trusts) this would normally protect the estate against care fee depradation.

I suggest contacting the firm which drew up the plan for additional advice.

Forward27

Pixie5740 wrote: »

How did the daughters and granddaughters become owners of the property? Did they pay the market rate for their share or did the grandparents deliberately deprive themselves of part of their asset i.e. their house? It makes a difference as to what the local council might be able to do.

The Grandparents signed over part shares of their house.

xylophone

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

is worth reading with care.


http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/tsemmanual/tsem9520.htm
might be worth a read.

Pixie5740

Forward27 wrote: »

The Grandparents signed over part shares of their house.

The council could consider that the grandparents deliberately deprived themselves of an asset then. xylophone's links explain more about it and kingstreet's suggestion to get proper legal advice is a good idea.

DTDfanBoy

Surely you'd want to sell the house to ensure your Grandfather has a good level of care in his last few years

A state funded care home is a place of last resort, if my children placed me in one to maximise their inheritance they'd be in for a quite a shock at the will reading :beer:

booksurr

Forward27 wrote: »

Are you referring to the 7 year period?

the 7 year period applies to inheritance tax only and is irrelevant in the context you are asking about which is deliberate deprivation of capital for which there is (in law) no time limit as it is based on a host of factors not just just the passage of time

as Kingstreet says, ether the declaration was done "properly" or it was a half hearted DIY attempt and will fail. Only your solicitors know which it is ....

AdrianC

Forward27 wrote: »

The Grandparents signed over part shares of their house.

So that's a "yes" to the deprivation question...

Were they joint tenants or tenants-in-common?