Who pays for social care ?

Keep_pedalling

Looking at the OPs other threads, it would appear that flat is owned by the mother not the brother. He may have put up the funds, but as it was purchased under the right to buy, only she had the right to buy it. The fact that the council have billed her for roof repairs back this up.

It looks like both the purchase of the property and subsequent equity release have involved some fraudulent activity, which could now backfire horribly if she does need residential care. The LA will be fully aware that the flat was purchased by the OPs mother.

margaretclare

Looking at the OPs other threads, it would appear that flat is owned by the mother not the brother. He may have put up the funds, but as it was purchased under the right to buy, only she had the right to buy it. The fact that the council have billed her for roof repairs back this up.

It looks like both the purchase of the property and subsequent equity release have involved some fraudulent activity, which could now backfire horribly if she does need residential care. The LA will be fully aware that the flat was purchased by the OPs mother.

Ooooops. This changes the whole picture.

If Mum was a secure tenant, only she will have had the RTB. I didn't know much about RTB, have been finding out about it recently because of my GD.

GD has RTB. I am giving her the deposit on her mortgage. That done, I'll have no rights in her property, nothing to do with it at all in fact. If I, or anyone else, moved into her spare bedroom, I'd be her tenant.

So, the flat being discussed remains Mum's property and her son is her tenant.

Not sure how they managed to do equity release on the flat. AFAIK councils do mortgages on previous council property, but they don't do equity release. An incredibly complicated set-up. The equity release company will want to be paid first.

jatclarke999

My mother-in-law's partner of 20+ years has recently become very ill. He has dementia, Parkinsons and probably has had some minor strokes. Both of them are in their late 70's/early 80's. Sadly he is too ill, although currently in hospital, he will not come home and we have been advised that he has to go into a home.
Although they had been friends since shildhood, they both went their own ways in life and married their respective partners. About 25 years ago, my father-in-law passed away after a short illness and at a similar time my mother-in-law's current partner divorced his wife. After a few years, the pair of them got together and the rest is history as they say...
They decided that the best course of action was for my mother-in-law to sell her house and move in with the partner, however they chose not to marry. We do not think any financial transactions of her estate was made to him at the time - she cannot remember if there was any.
So today, she lives in his house. She has some savings of her own still from the house sale, but not enough to buy a place of her own.
We are being told that because his estate is valued at more than £23k they will have to fund his residential costs.
Does this mean they have to sell the property, should she pay from her savings for his care and how could she reclaim from his estate?
As you can imagine, this is additional stress we can do without at this moment.
Where can we go for advice please.

Thanks in advance
John

Alfrescodave

AGE UK or the Local Authority would offer good advice as to resolving your situation.

I'm no expert but I don't see how she should have to pay for her partners care from HER savings. Hopefully they have kept separate bank accounts otherwise his care costs might have to come out of their joint account.

If the house is solely in his name then this will be taken into account as regards funding costs.

Definitely seek expert advice.

badmemory

If she is over 60 I am sure they cannot force her to move out. Do not listen to what social workers say about the situation as they are known to lie to save the LA money, get advice from elsewhere such as Age UK already mentioned NOT from the LA.

greyfox

Your mother-in-law shouldn't worry. The value of the house will be disregarded in the assessment of her partner's contribution towards fees because she - his spouse or partner - is living in it as her home.

Age Concern produce a series of factsheets about residential care & how charges are calculated. The one which covers property is here https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf Paragraph 4.1 covers your mother-in-law's situation.

Hope this helps

Alfrescodave

LA was extremely helpful in the case of my Dad and had a meeting with me and explained what would and wouldn't be taken into account when determining his care costs. Obviously there are good and not so good LA's.

keihal

I've read many sources about this but still have some unanswered questions. It is certainly a complicated issue and each scenario has to be carefully considered.
I am interested in whether a local authority can make a claim against a deceased person's estate, having disregarded the value of a house when assessing whether they must contribute to care costs.


Consider this scenario....

A married couple own a house as Joint Tenants.
The wife becomes ill and the Local Authority assess her needs.
They decide she needs to be in a care home, so they then conduct a financial assessment.
The house she and her husband jointly own is worth £200,000. Her other assets are worth £20,000.



As I understand it, the local authority should disregard the value of the couple's home when assessing whether the LA must fund the wife's care. This (as I understand it) is because her husband is still living in their home.

The LA should therefore conclude that she has less than £23,500 but more than (about) £14,000 and so the LA will contribute part of the care costs. In due course her assets fall to the lower threshold and the LA then has to pay the entire care costs.
She dies and is survived by her husband who is still living in their home. He automatically becomes the sole owner of the house.

Can the LA subsequently attempt to recover any of the costs they have funded for his wife by making any claim on the estate of the husband when he dies?

PennyForThem_2

How old is the husband?

DairyQueen

keihal wrote: »

As I understand it, the local authority should disregard the value of the couple's home when assessing whether the LA must fund the wife's care. This (as I understand it) is because her husband is still living in their home.

Correct.

keihal wrote: »

Can the LA subsequently attempt to recover any of the costs they have funded for his wife by making any claim on the estate of the husband when he dies?

No.

Note that the wife's pension income will be used toward the cost of care except a small personal spending allowance.

Also, if the £20000 savings referred to above is part of a jointly held investment then a declaration can be made, prior to the financial assessment, that the husband owns more than 50%. This is not deprivation of assets. It would be DoA if the £20k was held in her sole name and she transferred it to her spouse (or anyone else) before the financial assessment.