Care Home fees - protecting parent's savings

Geoff1963

One way is for the OP's mother to commit a very serious criminal offence, then the state will pay for her long term care in sheltered accommodation. Even with severe dementia, she wouldn't go wandering off.

I'm not sure of the legality if someone employed their offspring as : cleaners, gardeners, chauffeurs etc. Such money would be income-taxed but wouldn't be a gift. MPs have been employing family members for years, so that must be legal ; or does that mean it must be illegal ?

kelpie35

If as you say your mother is so worried about not leaving her 3 sons some inheritance, why don't you 3 decide who is going to take her in and look after her so she can sell her house now?

The money could then be spent while she being looked after by her own family.

I am sure as, 3 loving sons, you will do this for your mother.

Mojisola

Geoff1963 wrote: »

I'm not sure of the legality if someone employed their offspring as : cleaners, gardeners, chauffeurs etc. Such money would be income-taxed but wouldn't be a gift. MPs have been employing family members for years, so that must be legal ; or does that mean it must be illegal ?

It is perfectly legal.

One of our older relatives employs his son as his carer/PA.

Keep_pedalling

kelpie35 wrote: »

If as you say your mother is so worried about not leaving her 3 sons some inheritance, why don't you 3 decide who is going to take her in and look after her so she can sell her house now?

The money could then be spent while she being looked after by her own family.

I am sure as, 3 loving sons, you will do this for your mother.

The OP does not say their mother is worried about this, they explicitly say that it is they that want to protect these savings, but I doubt whether they will want to take your advice about caring for her, sounds too much like hard work, so no longer free money.

xylophone

The OP does not say their mother is worried about this,

See post 1 in which OP says

Mum is very keen to do something like this so her three sons have some kind of inheritance.

Leothecat

My father has had to go to a nursing home in the last few months.


I am so glad that my dad has some savings, a decent pension and equity in his home (should this be required) in order to pay for his care. My siblings and I pay a top up amount to the home which we are happy to do.


Take a day and visit some of the cheaper nursing/care homes where your mother will be placed if she or you cannot fund her own care. Sadly, I can confirm that there are many of these homes I would not be happy if my father had to live in them.


My sister and I visited over 20 homes in our area and ruled out 18 of them. We visited them numerous times at different times of day, spoke to the managers, staff, residents and families of residents before we made any decision.


We never thought my dad would need care but unfortunately he is extremely ill and we are not able to care for him at home - it has been very difficult for me to accept that this has not been possible and he needs round the clock nursing care. I do however feel truly blessed that we have been in the position to be able to chose where he now lives. Please do not take that choice away from your mother. It's her money, not your inheritance.

pearl123

You could try to care for your mother yourselves therefore not spend on care fees.

Over62

I was in this position some years ago. My mother was severly disabled physically but not mentally and needed 24 hours nursing care, so it was not possible for me to look after her. I was not working and had two small children. My only income was child benefit. Social Services did not want to know us. We found a good nursing home for her but after her savings had gone (in those days we were only allowed to keep £1000), the fees were more than the Council payment and we had to supplement the cost ourselves. This meant that my husband had to pay to support his mother-in-law.

I often said to my mother that I would help her to put a brick through a jeweller's window then she could go to prison and live for free!

Some years later, we went through the same thing again with my mother-in-law, who had dementia. By then, we were in a stable position financially and there were two sons to share the cost. Her capital was just under the limit, but we were banned from touching her capital to pay for her care. What is the point of that?

We are now in our sixties and have POAs ready. I would like to think that if we end up paying for care in the years to come, that there would still be something left for our children, even if only to pay for our funerals!

xylophone

he is extremely ill

he needs round the clock nursing care.

Have you applied for NHS funding?

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2392.aspx?CategoryID=68

Mojisola

Over62 wrote: »

Her capital was just under the limit, but we were banned from touching her capital to pay for her care. What is the point of that?

I would like to think that if we end up paying for care in the years to come, that there would still be something left for our children, even if only to pay for our funerals!

That's one of the reasons for ring-fencing the capital.

People being paid for by the council are only allowed to keep £23 'pocket money' each week. Their protected capital means they have the money to buy things for themselves.