Buying a house with my mother in law?

teddysmum

If someone goes into care and a spouse, partner, dependant, close relative person over 60, or single parent lives in the house it is exempt from inclusion in the person needing care's assets.


You and your husband would not meet these criteria and councils are very aware that people try to hide assets by having a shared property, believing that the council can't seize and sell part of a house. However, they could put a lien on the house or force a sale, especially if it is suspected that the aim was to avoid costs.


As money is short and councils are aware of schemes,they are now more likely to take action or just refuse to pay for any care.

Cheeky_Monkey

OP - do you have any children living at home with you?

If not, why would you need to extend a house that costs circa £550,000k if it's just going to be the 3 of you?

acbuyer

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

OP - do you have any children living at home with you?

If not, why would you need to extend a house that costs circa £550,000k if it's just going to be the 3 of you?

We have children and we need to build a bathroom downstairs for my mil.

acbuyer

Cakeguts wrote: »

What are you going to do if your mother in law gets an illness where 24 hour care is needed and she has to go into a home? The problem is that the £450k that she has tied up in her house now would be needed to pay for the home you wouldn't get it paid for just because the money was tied up in the house that you all live in. If this happened you would have to sell the house so that she could get her share of the money out and there would be questions asked if she only owned 1/3rd but had paid for more than that.

The sensible thing to do in your case is actually not to buy a house for you all to live in and build extensions etc. The sensible thing would be to find her some sheltered housing. She will then still be able to sell her home in order to pay for any residential care without it all becoming complicated by her money being in a joint home.

She does not want to go into sheltered accommodation.

acbuyer

teddysmum wrote: »

If someone goes into care and a spouse, partner, dependant, close relative person over 60, or single parent lives in the house it is exempt from inclusion in the person needing care's assets.


You and your husband would not meet these criteria and councils are very aware that people try to hide assets by having a shared property, believing that the council can't seize and sell part of a house. However, they could put a lien on the house or force a sale, especially if it is suspected that the aim was to avoid costs.


As money is short and councils are aware of schemes,they are now more likely to take action or just refuse to pay for any care.

Blimey that's a scary prospect!

acbuyer

Mojisola wrote: »

If MIL is assessed as having assets, the council won't pay for her care.

Would you be able to fund a care home without selling the house?

No. It's a worrying thought.

Cakeguts

I think you need to have another think about this plan now that you know about possible care home fees and the fact that you would have to sell the jointly owned house to pay them.

The only way having your mother in law to live with you would be if you bought the house that you all lived in and she sold her house and put the money into the bank ready for when she might need it to pay for care.

teddysmum

As the lady needs a downstairs bathroom, it appears that she already has some health problems and statistics are of no use if you fall within the quoted range.


A large number of my wider family (ie not all blood relations) have needed care homes, including my father and mother-in-law. It may well be a regional thing, where in affluent areas care around the clock, while still at home, is easily affordable.