Tenants in Common or Joint Ownership

GillyFlower

Ok - we have been married for 50+ years and own our own home. With changes in care i.e. possibility of the dementia tax. Has anyone considered changing from having their traditional joint ownership of their home to tenants in common? It's just a thought....... does it have advantages?

This current situation does make it feel for those of us who have scrimped and saved could see there are disadvantages of taking this route in life.

getmore4less

what have you scrimped and saved for if not to give you the best end of life you can.

if you really want to stop it from paying for your best possible care spend it now while you can remember and enjoy what you spend it on.

GillyFlower

Thank you but maybe what I was thinking if either of us needed care then if I understand this correctly it could be 'first come first served'.

So if for arguments sake it was myself who needed long term care and that was self funding from our property until finance from our home ran out. But what if then my husband needed funds to help him?

So as we both have shared all these years - it was just a thought if 'tenants in common' then could it mean if my share gets used up his share could be protected.

Just a thought and interested in your views.

surreysaver

I think you raise a good point. Whoever is ill first gets to choose their care, as they are paying for it. So if all the money gets used up, the surviving spouse gets what they're given by the council.
So I don't know what the answer is!

getmore4less

what are you going to do when one of you gets ill first?

Pull the plug on funding once their 1/2 is used up.


I suspect(hope) the 50% beneficial share will continue with any new legislation although the disregard for spouse may disappear .

GillyFlower

getmore4less wrote: »

what are you going to do when one of you gets ill first?

Pull the plug on funding once their 1/2 is used up.


I suspect(hope) the 50% beneficial share will continue with any new legislation although the disregard for spouse may disappear .

I am sorry I don't really understand what you are saying regarding 'pull the plug' how could you do that in reality? That is why I was wondering about 'Tenants in Common' would the plug be pulled through law?

Secondly can you help me understand what you 'suspect' etc.. means in reality. Is there already a 50% beneficial share in place?

getmore4less

AIUI the current situation is home is disregarded if the is a spouse if not then if joint the beneficial interest is considered 50%.

Try google and read up how the various agencies describe the current situation and how that is changing in 2020, then speculate on what might change.

GillyFlower

Phew - some reading and can be very complicated.

https://www.ageuk.org.uk Factsheets/FS38


Mind you I need to sit and read it thoroughly but then things change as we have acknowledged. It seems to me that to allow members of the family to live in the home is not accepted if parent/s goes into care it has to be sold to cover fees. So no chance of helping siblings out there.

So ... what if only one parent goes into care could it be protected if Tenants in Common. Hence, when that equity is used up for care bills- end of story. Then if the remaining parent lets say dies naturally and their share is willed to the 'child' is it protected?

I am not saying that you should not contribute but this is the area when you have started off with nothing to get what you have you now - you question whether you should have remained in rented accommodation especially in times like this where the young have very little chance of getting property.

getmore4less

The trick(not without its own problems) is pass capital down the generations, use income to support those at the top.

Can you trust your kids to look after you?

GillyFlower

At the moment - yes. But who knows what life may throw at them so I was wondering about other 'avenues' first.

Hence - I wanted to explore the Tenants in Common thought and if it had advantages.

Basically, in our Will we state our share of our home is willed to each other - before - we need to be in the system for care. Hence - then each 'pot' of capital can only be taken into account that is 'owned' by the wife/husband who needs to be assessed.

Then.... I thought what ever government chooses with the 'dementia' tax for example the bottom line is what each person wife/husband is worth.

(I think I read in one of the articles that if you have a joint bank account/savings it can be worthwhile to split it so you have an account each....)