Refunded Care Home Fees

fcjf

My Mum died in July this year and I was/am the executor of her Estate which was to be split between myself and my brother. The Estate totalled £18,000 and the monies due were received and distributed in October.

My Mum had been in a care home with Dementia since 2011 and the care home fees had been covered by the LA due to her care needs. In 2015 a new assessor from the local authority decided that my Mum’s needs didn’t warrant full time care and ruled that she should contribute towards her fees. This was against the advice of the care home team and the LA’s previous assessor. For the past couple of years a complaint against this assessment had been ongoing and two weeks ago my dad was notified that he had been successful and that fees of £16,000 were being refunded. The notice came through addressed to my dad and the estate of my mum.

The money that the LA had been claiming was out of my Mums pension which had previously being paid into mum and dads joint current account. In theory this is where Mum’s pension payments would have been sitting if not claimed by the LA although my dad was using this account for spending money. In settling the estate the joint account was transferred to a sole account in my dad’s name. As Mum’s pension payments would have been paid into this account does my dad keep the refunded care home fees or does this go into my Mums estate to be split between myself and my brother. My dad says he doesn’t want the money but as executor I do not want to do anything wrong. Is there somewhere I can get an official ruling on this or are there set rules on this type situation?

Any advice appreciated.

Yorkshireman99

fcjf wrote: »

My Mum died in July this year and I was/am the executor of her Estate which was to be split between myself and my brother. The Estate totalled £18,000 and the monies due were received and distributed in October.

My Mum had been in a care home with Dementia since 2011 and the care home fees had been covered by the LA due to her care needs. In 2015 a new assessor from the local authority decided that my Mum’s needs didn’t warrant full time care and ruled that she should contribute towards her fees. This was against the advice of the care home team and the LA’s previous assessor. For the past couple of years a complaint against this assessment had been ongoing and two weeks ago my dad was notified that he had been successful and that fees of £16,000 were being refunded. The notice came through addressed to my dad and the estate of my mum.

The money that the LA had been claiming was out of my Mums pension which had previously being paid into mum and dads joint current account. In theory this is where Mum’s pension payments would have been sitting if not claimed by the LA although my dad was using this account for spending money. In settling the estate the joint account was transferred to a sole account in my dad’s name. As Mum’s pension payments would have been paid into this account does my dad keep the refunded care home fees or does this go into my Mums estate to be split between myself and my brother. My dad says he doesn’t want the money but as executor I do not want to do anything wrong. Is there somewhere I can get an official ruling on this or are there set rules on this type situation?

Any advice appreciated.

The refund forms part of your late mother's estate and is therefore due to you and youir brother.

getmore4less

For this amount it makes no difference who gets it there is no official body that will care.

My dad says he doesn’t want the money

he is the only one that could have an interest, as he does not want it put it through the estate accounts(which means just split it between you once it arrives), that avoids a lingering PET of him having it and giving it to you.

if you want to, update the Estate inventory and account for the record.