Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common

Keep_pedalling

This protects the surviving spouse from having the whole house disappearing in care costs, but does not help in choice of care if one goes into care while the other is still alive. Personally there is no way either of us are going into LA funded care and if that means the whole house is removed from the estate so be it.

loulou41

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

This protects the surviving spouse from having the whole house disappearing in care costs, but does not help in choice of care if one goes into care while the other is still alive. Personally there is no way either of us are going into LA funded care and if that means the whole house is removed from the estate so be it.

I do agree with you as before I was telling the adult children not to count on my house as it might be sold to fund my care. I have changed my mind as one of my friend told me she has to partly pay for her mum care fees whereas some of the residents are being funded for free. People who worked very hard want at least to protect part of their assets. It is a debating issue.

Keep_pedalling

loulou41 wrote: »

I do agree with you as before I was telling the adult children not to count on my house as it might be sold to fund my care. I have changed my mind as one of my friend told me she has to partly pay for her mum care fees whereas some of the residents are being funded for free. People who worked very hard want at least to protect part of their assets. It is a debating issue.

The only time anyone should be paying for another persons care is if they are doing it voluntary as a top up.

I have actually done the maths to see how many years the capital from our house would last if used exclusively for care costs. The house is worth around £600k, and each of us would need £30k of that PA (the rest coming from pensions). On that basis even if I was inclined to go down this route, I would not bother as the risk of us using up more than 50% is infinitesimally small.

SevenOfNine

This is an interesting thread.

We own as tenants in common & need to update our wills, been giving thought to a life interest but many things to consider, both for & against.

Protecting some of our assets for offspring, in case the surviving spouse remarries, needs a care home, or preyed on in what could be a vulnerable old age. All scenarios we are familiar with through family, friends, neighbours.

Some things would need pre-clarification. The position regarding maintenance of the surviving spouse/offspring owned property. Downsizing would release capital so what happens to this as a whole, or if invested then to the income it would generate. None of which sounds too difficult to establish, perhaps it goes hand in hand with a life interest set up.

Things you'd have a whole lot less control over. Surviving spouse & offspring own the house, offspring subsequently dies (one or even more than one). Now their portion of the house is owned by ?????? either through their own Will or intestate.

The home would then no longer be partially owned by the people the deceased (& the surviving spouse) exactly intended.

Whilst part of the home is in the hands of your own offspring there's always the possibility (or probablity) that if additional funding was required to help supplement private care home fees the surviving spouse may require, the 50% owned by your own child/ren could be willingly given by them.

If any portion of the house has by default dropped into the lap of the son-in-law or daughter-in-law, things could be very different (particularly if they remarry).

We are starting to lean more heavily towards merely leaving everything to each other, to worry less about assets WE earned between us possibly being swallowed whole by the possibility of care home fees, leaving little for offspring.

LPA's should protect a surviving senile spouse from the unscrupulous fleecing them. Remarriage, well can't rule anything out if only for companionship, but we believe both of us can be trusted to protect our own offspring in those circumstances.

More concerned as individuals about the proximity of IHT, which main residence nil rate band helps enormously..........of would if we dispensed with our current Will/trust!!!

Time to stop procrastinating & make a decision. Thanks OP for asking the question & for all the contributions everyone has made.

troubleinparadise

SevenOfNine wrote: »

This is an interesting thread.

We own as tenants in common & need to update our wills, been giving thought to a life interest but many things to consider, both for & against.

Protecting some of our assets for offspring, in case the surviving spouse remarries, needs a care home, or preyed on in what could be a vulnerable old age. All scenarios we are familiar with through family, friends, neighbours.

Some things would need pre-clarification. The position regarding maintenance of the surviving spouse/offspring owned property. Downsizing would release capital so what happens to this as a whole, or if invested then to the income it would generate. None of which sounds too difficult to establish, perhaps it goes hand in hand with a life interest set up.

Things you'd have a whole lot less control over. Surviving spouse & offspring own the house, offspring subsequently dies (one or even more than one). Now their portion of the house is owned by ?????? either through their own Will or intestate.

The home would then no longer be partially owned by the people the deceased (& the surviving spouse) exactly intended.

Whilst part of the home is in the hands of your own offspring there's always the possibility (or probablity) that if additional funding was required to help supplement private care home fees the surviving spouse may require, the 50% owned by your own child/ren could be willingly given by them.

If any portion of the house has by default dropped into the lap of the son-in-law or daughter-in-law, things could be very different (particularly if they remarry).

We are starting to lean more heavily towards merely leaving everything to each other, to worry less about assets WE earned between us possibly being swallowed whole by the possibility of care home fees, leaving little for offspring.

LPA's should protect a surviving senile spouse from the unscrupulous fleecing them. Remarriage, well can't rule anything out if only for companionship, but we believe both of us can be trusted to protect our own offspring in those circumstances.

More concerned as individuals about the proximity of IHT, which main residence nil rate band helps enormously..........of would if we dispensed with our current Will/trust!!!

Time to stop procrastinating & make a decision. Thanks OP for asking the question & for all the contributions everyone has made.

What a good post, 7of 9. So many people seem to have been swept up into a panic about 'preserving assets to leave an inheritance', and 'protecting a house from being sold for care fees' that they haven't always considered every aspect of the repercussions of these protective measures.

The OP's post is very valid, and worth consideration. It can be a very real issue when a diagnosis of, say, dementia has been made, when there is a very real probability of needing care in the not too distant future. But the need for residential care does not arise for everyone, and a step taken in haste might be regretted later.

loulou41

I agree you need to discuss the pros and cons and what you want to achieve. I trust my adult children but what about their spouses? You need to think carefully. It took me ages to decide and a, now waiting for the updated house deed to proceed with the will.There are more advantages than disadvantages on the internet. I know what I want if only my income could fund my future care I would have to go into that route. Looking forward for the government to increase the cap. The trust does not come into effect until the first death and if it does suit me or the circumstances have changed I have the option to update my will. My friends have done theirs and have not got a glue what's is their will. They have severed their tenancy and I think they have put their house and whole assets in a trust. This type of trust will be considered as depriving of assets. It is a very interesting thread now it' s up to the op to decide.

SevenOfNine

loulou41 wrote: »

They have severed their tenancy and I think they have put their house and whole assets in a trust. This type of trust will be considered as depriving of assets. It is a very interesting thread now it' s up to the op to decide.

No, not necessarily. Here is probably the best explanation of asset deprivation. There is a link to their factsheet there.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/deprivation-of-assets-in-the-means-test-for-care-home-provision/