buying house from mother because of illness

efc40

hi there

my mother has not been well the last couple of years she's 73 and had a successful kidney transplant three years ago. in January this year she had a bleed on the brain which caused a slight stroke, she is out of hospital now but has to have a care team come in four times a day to help her.

my question is this, she is now worried that she might have to go into sheltered accommodation and is worried that she will have to sell her house to help pay for the sheltered accommodation, she is already on attendance allowance and another care allowance. so we are wondering if she can sign over her house to me, or what someone else suggested was to sell the house to me for a nominal fee and then while she's still in it I would charge her a minimal amount for rent. It's not set in stone that she will go into sheltered accommodation but she's worried her health isn't going to get any better in the future.

I am not sure what the best thing to do is, I am not even sure if I can do either of the things suggested.

any sort of help would be great thanks.

Malmo

Search "Deprivation of Assets".

tiger_eyes

Although this question is common, I suspect you won't get much sympathy here for the simple reason that your aim is to get the taxpayer to pay for the patient's care even though the patient has plenty of financial assets to pay for it themselves. As you would be directly benefiting at the expense of the taxpayer, and most of us are taxpayers, you can imagine the reaction.

Torry_Quine

Sorry but as your mum is already ill and receiving care then she will be treated for assessement purposes as if she still had any money she gives away. This includes the value of any property.

csgohan4

Pay what your mother owes like the rest of us will eventually do.

missbiggles1

efc40 wrote: »

hi there

my mother has not been well the last couple of years she's 73 and had a successful kidney transplant three years ago. in January this year she had a bleed on the brain which caused a slight stroke, she is out of hospital now but has to have a care team come in four times a day to help her.

my question is this, she is now worried that she might have to go into sheltered accommodation and is worried that she will have to sell her house to help pay for the sheltered accommodation, she is already on attendance allowance and another care allowance. so we are wondering if she can sign over her house to me, or what someone else suggested was to sell the house to me for a nominal fee and then while she's still in it I would charge her a minimal amount for rent. It's not set in stone that she will go into sheltered accommodation but she's worried her health isn't going to get any better in the future.

I am not sure what the best thing to do is, I am not even sure if I can do either of the things suggested.

any sort of help would be great thanks.

The best thing one could recommend to your mother is that she hangs onto her house so that, if she needs to go into residential care in the future, she can pay for it with her own money and can then choose the best and most suitable place for her to end her days.

TBagpuss

If you were able to afford it, you might be able to buy the house from her at a full, open market value, otherwise your mum would fall foul of the deprivation of assets rule.

AS she is ill and has already suffered one stroke I would very strongly recommend that you encourage her to see a solicitor and to condsider granting Powers of Attorney, so that you (or you and your siblings, if you have any) can make decisions for her about her health if she becomes unable to do so, and so you can manage her affairs for her if need be.
Do you know whether her main concern if that she doesn't want to move, or that she is worried about the cost of care?
If it is the former, then you could look into what level of care she will be entitled to, and whether you can top this up with private care if needed (which your mum could potentially fund by way of an equity release loan, or by loans from you if you could afford it)
#If she is worried about what she will leave, I'd suggest that you reassure her that her care and wellbeing are the most important things, and that she should not hesitate to use her own assets to ensure the best quality of life available to her.

While I can understand a reluctance to move, some form of sheltered accommodation where she could have her own space but have support available might actually be a positive thing for her - if she isn't worried by thinking you will "miss out". It may be that what she would most benefit from would be for you to tell her that she should not hesitate to sell the house if that will give her better access to suitable care and accommodation.

MortgageMamma

read this, it will help http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/deprivation-of-assets-in-the-means-test-for-care-home-provision/

theGrinch

You and your family have my sympathy for doing the right thing.

This goes to show how under the current regime those that dont do the right thing are taken care of by the taxpayer - thats the real moral outrage.

On a wider point, there must be a better way to do this; something your post makes us think about and something I have thought about for some time.

efc40

thanks for all the quick advice