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

milkydrink

While I think its a very hard & unfair system that the saver gets penalised & the squanderer gets rewarded.
I do agree with some of what tanith says, you do get what you pay for & it would be nice to think that she could afford a nice home rather than the local council throwing her in the cheapest place.

The answer is if possible take her in or move in with her, I know this is not always possible.

antenna

Many if not most council run care homes have now been closed,the council funded people in reciept of care are now placed in private care homes and recieve the same care and treatment as the people that pay their own way........the council quite often pay less to the home,but this is to the advantage of the private home as they can keep it full, a ready supply of old people is always available

Savvy_Sue

MyRubyRed wrote: »

Sorry if there is already a thread on this but I couldn't find it.
My dad passed away last year leaving my 73 yr old mum in their mortgage free house. She is now terrified that, if, God forbid, she needs to go into care at some stage, the State will take her house to pay the fees and I won't get my "inheritance"
This is becoming a major issue for her. She's read in a recent paper that that she could get me put onto the deeds as joint owner to remove this risk. Is this an option?
Any advice appreciated

This has been covered before, so do see if you can find the earlier thread(s). If you owned the house jointly with her then I don't think they could force the sale, but they could put a charge on half of it. But it all gets horribly complicated, one of you has to think about the possible Capital Gains Tax implications of selling a property which hasn't been your main residence, then there's the Inheritance Tax liability if she doesn't survive at least 7 years, and so on.

Plus, if she has the means to pay for her own care then she can choose where she receives it. If she's not paying for it, Social Services will choose for her. Same as if you can afford to buy or rent your own home, you get a lot more choice about where you live than if you are being rehoused by the council.

Not to mention the fact that many older people never DO go into care. Why not talk to her about what would be needed now and in the longer term to enable her to stay where she is for a good long time? If a few adaptations would make the house easier to live in, get them done now.

And maybe someone can tell me: if the council assesses you as needing care at home, I know that is means-tested, but is the value of the home taken into account for that as well? Or is that just income-assessed. That's another thing to reassure Mum about.

Iguana

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And maybe someone can tell me: if the council assesses you as needing care at home, I know that is means-tested, but is the value of the home taken into account for that as well? Or is that just income-assessed. That's another thing to reassure Mum about.

Home care is means tested on income and savings, property isn't taken into account. The amount you pay will depend on where you live.

Savvy_Sue

Iguana wrote: »

Home care is means tested on income and savings, property isn't taken into account. The amount you pay will depend on where you live.

I had a funny feeling that was the case, which makes the case for making the OP's mother's property as user friendly as possible stronger than ever.

The problem arises if the OP's mother has a mortgage free house which isn't user friendly, but an income too small to live in it comfortably and make the necessary adaptations.

margaretclare

I agree with SavvySue.

My first husband and I moved from a 3-storey Pennine cottage to a1930s bungalow near the north bank of the Thames, that was in 1990 and he died 18 months later. In the last 10 years my present husband and I have spent time, money, thought and effort in making the place as user-friendly as possible. We got rid of the bath in favour of a shower-unit, a planned programme of home improvements carried out over the years. There's very little remains to be done. This summer when I was on crutches from a fractured pelvis, I was soooooo glad we'd done all that.

Yes, there is means-testing for any care at home, based on your income and amount of savings, but not on value of your home. The only time value of your home comes into the equation is if/when you can no longer live at home and need to go and live somewhere else i.e. a care home.

While in A&E I was offered 'someone to come in and help you get up, washed, dressed etc' and I said 'thanks but no thanks'. I managed very well with my husband's help. Had I been alone, my income level meant that I'd have been better phoning one of the local care agencies and arranging this myself rather than having a social worker coming in to tell me what I needed. This is my outlook on life, and it will continue until I lose my marbles entirely.

This type of query about 'saving my inheritance' has come up time, and time, and time again.

Best wishes

Margaret

EdInvestor

MyRubyRed wrote: »

She is now terrified that, if, God forbid, she needs to go into care at some stage, the State will take her house to pay the fees and I won't get my "inheritance".

She could consider equity release (lifetime mortgage).These plans enable you to extract about half the value of the home in cash to do what you like with - including giving it away.

The interest on the loan rolls up and is only paid off when the house is sold when she dies or goes into care.She has complete security of tenure.

margaretclare

Here's a link that someone posted on the AgeConcern discussion forum and it explains the whole thing as clearly as you could wish:

http://www.carersinherts.org.uk/articles/prop_care-act.htm

Margaret

antenna

EdInvestor wrote: »

She could consider equity release (lifetime mortgage).These plans enable you to extract about half the value of the home in cash to do what you like with - including giving it away.

The interest on the loan rolls up and is only paid off when the house is sold when she dies or goes into care.She has complete security of tenure.

Anybody that would consider Equity Release as a way to fund care home fees,or as a way to shelter some money to protect an iheritence gift,should lie down in a darkened room until the feeling goes away,they would also qualify under the Mental Health Act for fully funded care home costs as they are surely living on planet Zarg.........a better solution would be to keep your home,(as a close carer/relative is living there)get the council to put you in a care home,let the council put a charge on your propertyand just hope the rising value of your house leaves a few bob behind when you finaly shuffle off.....i can hear all you taxpayers giving a huge sigh of relief...........

antenna

The final solution..........while you still can enjoy the money.....sell the house,spend all the money on yourself and your family,and tell the council to take it out of that.......................