Help Needed On Avoiding Care Fees 16 September 2007 at 9:19PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 107 replies 22.3K views

MyRubyRed

Bogof_Babe
Apologies if I have used this site to get advice but that is what I thought it was for. I believe there is a wealth of knowledge on this site covering experience and opinion. I appreciate it all. Thanks to all.

margaretclare

MyRubyRed wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepless saver
I know they can't if you're a spouse, or over 60, but couldn't see anything abut carers?

Quote:
They're not 'carers'. They're joint owners! You can't force somebody to sell something that belongs to someone else, and no one would be interested in buying a half or a quarter of a house.

Margaret

Margaret:
Have just picked up the advice/opinion you are giving on another part of the board which I think answers the question I should have asked. Thank you so very very much.

Well, yes. But it's always a possibility that someone may put a legal charge on the part of the house that belongs to the person incurring fees, and this charge has to be paid when/if the house is ever sold.

My DH's ex had a charge put on her house following their divorce and AFAIK it was subject to interest charges. She ran up a high level of legal costs deliberately, thinking he'd have to pay her costs - the judge thought otherwise, and although she pleaded poverty etc, the judge said 'well, if you can't pay now, you'll pay it if you ever sell the property'. That charge will remain even if she dies and leaves the property to her daughters, if they go to sell it there's that debt which will have to be paid from the proceeds of sale.

HTH

Margaret

EdInvestor

Another useful step by step article on paying for care:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/29/cmcare127.xml&page=2

Phil_G_101

margaretclare wrote: »

Well, yes. But it's always a possibility that someone may put a legal charge on the part of the house that belongs to the person incurring fees, and this charge has to be paid when/if the house is ever sold.

My DH's ex had a charge put on her house following their divorce and AFAIK it was subject to interest charges. She ran up a high level of legal costs deliberately, thinking he'd have to pay her costs - the judge thought otherwise, and although she pleaded poverty etc, the judge said 'well, if you can't pay now, you'll pay it if you ever sell the property'. That charge will remain even if she dies and leaves the property to her daughters, if they go to sell it there's that debt which will have to be paid from the proceeds of sale.

HTH
Margaret

Further to this comment about putting a charge on a house I recently heard of a Local Authority who said that they would buy half a house- this meant that the Trust that had been set up to protect against paying for care home fees was worthless.
There are ways to protect against the Local Authority claiming property to fund long term care but all the ends need to be tied up.
My advice, for what it's worth, (you don't know me- so don't trust me!) is go to a solicitor and take notes on what they say, then go to a Wealth Management Consultant and listen to what they say.
When you've done this, go to a lawyer and discuss with them what would be in your best interests.
Go for a package (yep, I hate that term when dealing with something as important as yours, your partner's and your childrens' future) that includes solicitors as trustees (they can take care of year end tax returns and the like, included in the price), a will writing service, a probate clause and Powers of Attorney for the trustees.
Don't go for an automated (cheap) solution because things change! You need to know that the people advising on your trust will take care of you and your family over the next 10-15 years.

Just my sixpence!

Best wishes,

Phil

thgdwns

tanith wrote: »

Sorry but if your Mum has the means to pay should she need to go into a care home then why should she not pay for that care? Do you both really think that the money should come from tax payers when she has the means to pay for it ? Would you not rather your mother was taken care of properly and pay the fees in a nice nursing home, than shoved into some low grade (and some of them are very low) old peoples home just so you could get your 'inheritance'. :eek:

My mother has Dementia and has paid for her care upto the point where she has the minimun amount of savings left and no family home.
She is now needing full care and is basically like a baby nappies spoon fed a shell where my mum used to be.
She was a non drinker non smoker was never over weight and walked with her dogs every day no matter the weather. Why should all of my parents hard earned savings (they never claimed anything from the state and worked all their lives) have to have been used to pay for her care?She did nothing to contribute to this crippling disease! People know the consequences of smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse and eating badly and becoming obese yet the NHS pay for the care and treatment for all of the many related diseases that results in this self abuse!
Yes she has proper care but it is no different from the care recieved in the same home to people who are NHS funded because they have smoking,drinking or obese related problems These people have not lost any homes or investments for the exact care that my mum recieves and she has never abused her body! I feel angry when people say she can afford to pay so she should so can the people who smoke, drink and are obese but they get free care.

margaretclare

thgdwns wrote: »

My mother has Dementia and has paid for her care upto the point where she has the minimun amount of savings left and no family home.
She is now needing full care and is basically like a baby nappies spoon fed a shell where my mum used to be.
She was a non drinker non smoker was never over weight and walked with her dogs every day no matter the weather. Why should all of my parents hard earned savings (they never claimed anything from the state and worked all their lives) have to have been used to pay for her care?She did nothing to contribute to this crippling disease! People know the consequences of smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse and eating badly and becoming obese yet the NHS pay for the care and treatment for all of the many related diseases that results in this self abuse!
Yes she has proper care but it is no different from the care recieved in the same home to people who are NHS funded because they have smoking,drinking or obese related problems These people have not lost any homes or investments for the exact care that my mum recieves and she has never abused her body! I feel angry when people say she can afford to pay so she should so can the people who smoke, drink and are obese but they get free care.

I think you may be asking the wrong question. To my mind, the question that is never asked - and it seems full time that it should be - is: why is this illness not called an illness? An illness which is progressive, long-term, incurable, but an illness nevertheless. Why are people like your mother - for whom I have the greatest sympathy - spoken of as needing 'care', as if their needs are somehow less than those suffering from other illnesses like cancer?

As you point out so movingly, this illness can strike anybody. We may all do our best to live healthy lives as we're constantly being told to - eat healthily, avoid smoking and alcohol, take regular exercise - and yet none of these things will prevent this illness striking at random. How does any of us know that we may not, even now, have the beginnings of it lurking in the background?

John_Pierpoint

The BBC has been investigating "Deprivation of Assets" in the context of care home fees.

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