Carer's allowance, housing benefit and other questions...

~evanesco~

I need a bit of help here people. Bit of background 1st...

My best friend has is terminally ill. In the next month she is going to divorce her civil partner, who is also her carer. They also care for a young woman with Down's. When the divorce has gone through myself and my partner are all going to move into my friends house and my partner will become carer for both of them. We have 2 kids who are obviously coming with us. I will continue working as I am now, 6 days a week, bringing home our slice of the bacon. My friend owns her house, well she is paying the mortgage on it, and because of her illness should be able to offer a very small settlement to her partner. I just wanted to know will my partner be awarded just 1 payment of carers allowance, or, because she caring for 2 people will get a different amount. How does recieving carers allowance affect tax credits?

Hapless_2

You can only claim carers for 1 person.
Is your friend on any benefits? As you moving in there, it could make a difference to these.
Have you or your partner had any experience caring for someone with Downs Syndrome?
What will happen when your friend dies?
Who will the house go to?
Just because she is paying the mortgage, it doesn't mean the deeds are in her name.
Where will you live if she dies intestate and a family member claims the house?

Not nice things to think about, but those are the questions you should be asking yourself.

~evanesco~

Hapless wrote: »

You can only claim carers for 1 person. I thought that was the case.
Is your friend on any benefits? As you moving in there, it could make a difference to these. As far as I know she is on DLA.
Have you or your partner had any experience caring for someone with Downs Syndrome? No, but my friend has and with her help, and the help of the social workers we van learn to care for her.
What will happen when your friend dies? We will carry on caring for the lady with Down's, continuity is super important here.
Who will the house go to? Not something we have discussed as yet, but obviously something we will need to sort out.
Just because she is paying the mortgage, it doesn't mean the deeds are in her name. The deeds are in her name, so that should be fine.
Where will you live if she dies intestate and a family member claims the house? This is one of the things that we wil discuss. It has been suggested that myself or my partner goes onto the deeds.

Not nice things to think about, but those are the questions you should be asking yourself.

You're very right, these aren't nice things to think about, but they are things we need to fully sort out, otherwise the lady with Down's will end up in a care home, not something we want to happen, as her needs are fully managable.