Care home fees when house is not in joint names

babyblade41

A few questions if I can ask ,
My FIL may have to go into a care home as he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia , we are not sure if the house where both my FIL and MIL live is in joint names or just my FIL..
If it is in his sole name is that classed when doing the financial assessment to see if his care is going to be paid by him or not ?

Also he has no LPA and my MIL is not able to take care of bills etc so how can we make sure the household bills are paid

He has no will and again if the house isn't in joint names what will happen when he does pass regarding probate etc, also the land is not registered at the land registry.

The house is probably worth 650k to 700k and he has bonds etc

Many thanks

Keep_pedalling

While his wife lives in their home it will be discarded as far as the assessment is concerned. It sounds far too late to get a LPA in place for him, but you should help her set one up without delay.

If they only have joint accounts and you become her attorney, then things should be simple. The issue is with any significant other assets he holds in his name, such as his bonds, as this will require obtaining deputyship via the courts which is a long winded and expensive process.

While you are sorting out your MILs LPA get yours done as well, every adult should have one.

With assets that size not having a will may also be problematic, especially if he owns the house outright because your MIL will not automatically inherit the lot. Make sure she gets a will drawn up as well.

babyblade41

Thank you so much for that info... I'm a little more organised as I have my LPA's in place and my will just updated .
I have tried time and time again to get them to do it but he is not the easiest to deal with at the best of times. Will his bonds and cash get assessed if he needs a care home as I know they are in his sole name

Keep_pedalling

babyblade41 wrote: »

Thank you so much for that info... I'm a little more organised as I have my LPA's in place and my will just updated .
I have tried time and time again to get them to do it but he is not the easiest to deal with at the best of times. Will his bonds and cash get assessed if he needs a care home as I know they are in his sole name

Yes they will, which is where having no LPA in place is going to most problematic. 50% of savings in joint names will also be taken into account

Yorkshireman99

babyblade41 wrote: »

Thank you so much for that info... I'm a little more organised as I have my LPA's in place and my will just updated .
I have tried time and time again to get them to do it but he is not the easiest to deal with at the best of times. Will his bonds and cash get assessed if he needs a care home as I know they are in his sole name

Yes they will have to be declared and he will almost certainly have to pay until they drop to the minimum allowed.

Keep_pedalling

If his assets are substantial, and his prognosis is that he is likely to reguire a long term care then you might consider applying for deputyship now.

https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy/overview

babyblade41

Thank you very much...plain simple terms and helped enormously., so one last question regarding his bills.. none are on DD they are all in his name and no joint account ... he pays by cheque with him as sole signatory ....yes I know but thankfully my family were all prepared but trying to find out the best way forward for his family .......how can we get the bills into MIL name and get them paid

Yorkshireman99

babyblade41 wrote: »

Thank you very much...plain simple terms and helped enormously., so one last question regarding his bills.. none are on DD they are all in his name and no joint account ... he pays by cheque with him as sole signatory ....yes I know but thankfully my family were all prepared but trying to find out the best way forward for his family .......how can we get the bills into MIL name and get them paid

From what you say he no longer has capacity to give power of attorney so an application will have to be made to the Court of Protection so that a deputy can be appointed to manage his affairs. This is similar to the powers that would be given by power of attorney.

Keep_pedalling

Contact all the utilities and the council to get the billing moved over to her. Start with the council as she should also be able to get the council tax reduced via the single person's discount. (Edit: ignore that last bit, just realised he is not in care yet)

Get the ball rolling on applying for a deputy to be appointed, as she will have no access to his pension payments until that is sorted.

babyblade41

Thanks that is really informative ... I will check out the deputyship ASAP as that seems to be the longest part .

The land isn't registered so hopefully he has the deeds somewhere...god knows where !!!

Savvy_Sue

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Contact all the utilities and the council to get the billing moved over to her. Start with the council as she should also be able to get the council tax reduced via the single person's discount. (Edit: ignore that last bit, just realised he is not in care yet)

No, but if he doesn't have capacity, I think MIL may be entitled to the single person discount anyway.