Care Home Fees Conundrum

Jazzhands

First off, sorry if this is in the wrong board so Mods feel free to move if it is.

I am after a bit of advice with a Care Home fees conundrum I have please.

It's a bit of a ramble so bare with me:
Two years ago I needed to move my mum out of a Park Home she was living in for mobility and isolation reasons. As Park Homes don't sell very fast and she wasn't going to get much for it anyway, I purchased a retirement apartment for her and moved her into it right away and put the Park Home on the market.
The idea was that when she sold the Park Home she would give me the proceedings from it to part pay off the mortgage on the apartment and then spend the rest of her days there. The Park Home sold a year later and she "gifted" me the proceeds to pay off some of the mortgage.

Recently her health deteriorated rapidly due to numerous complications, she became immobile and unable to care for herself. She spent a period of time having rehabilitation care in a care home and she has now decided she wants to stay there and not go back to the apartment - her Social Worker also said it is the right place for her. This was unplanned and I wouldn't have gone to the expense and hassle of buying the apartment if she was going to be in it <2 years.

The problem I am now having is with the care funding. Mum has less than the £23250 max savings below which the council will contribute to her care fees and so are currently part funding her care - but not by much.
However they have now started asking questions into the sale of the Park Home and where all the money has gone which would push it above the £23250 and mean she would need to self fund.
However my argument is that she gifted the proceeds of the Park Home sale to me and therefore the council have no right to come after it (inheritance tax is not an issue here as we are talking about a total estate of about £70K.

Question is where do I stand with my rights to retain the gifted proceeds? Do the council have any claim to it?

Appreciate any input, thanks.

AnotherJoe

Jazzhands wrote: »

Question is where do I stand with my rights to retain the gifted proceeds? Do the council have any claim to it?
.

Yes they do, look up "deprivation of assets"

Mojisola

Jazzhands wrote: »

Question is where do I stand with my rights to retain the gifted proceeds? Do the council have any claim to it?

The council don't have a claim as such - they will just add that amount in to the financial assessment and your mother will have to fund her care home fees herself.

Shedman

Google "Deprivation of Assets". There are also a number of threads about this in the forums if you use the Search facility.

On the face of it the Local Authority do seem to have the right to take into account the proceeds of the sale of the Park Home. Just because your mother gifted it to you doesn't mean that they can't come back on it if they deem that there was a strong likelihood that your mother would need care within a reasonable number of years. Much will depend on her health and age at the time she gifted you the proceeds of the Park Home and whether future care was more rather than less likely.

Browntoa

It's deprivation of assets , not a gift

There's no time time limit on how far back the council can look at your mothers finances and challenge

Personally I wouldn't like my mother to live in council funded care , I'd rather she self funded quality care in a place of her choice

GDB2222

Browntoa wrote: »

It's deprivation of assets , not a gift

There's no time time limit on how far back the council can look at your mothers finances and challenge

Personally I wouldn't like my mother to live in council funded care , I'd rather she self funded quality care in a place of her choice

Too true, but round here quality care costs over £1k a week. Even if Mum had the proceeds from the park home, it sounds like she'd only have a total of £70k. So, about enough to fund quality care for a year. Then, what happens?

xylophone

I purchased a retirement apartment for her and moved her into it right away and put the Park Home on the market.
The idea was that when she sold the Park Home she would give me the proceedings from it to part pay off the mortgage on the apartment

In effect, your mother has an interest in the apartment to the extent of the proceeds of the sale of her park home.

Sell the flat (or remortgage) and return your mother's money or accept that the council will not be paying her fees?

Spreadsheetman

GDB2222 wrote: »

Too true, but round here quality care costs over £1k a week. Even if Mum had the proceeds from the park home, it sounds like she'd only have a total of £70k. So, about enough to fund quality care for a year. Then, what happens?

The expensive care home kick her out and the local authority stick her in the cheapest home they can get away with.

Keep_pedalling

You say you moved her 2 years ago, but arround 18 months ago your parents were going to give you £50k, so what happened to that money and your father?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5627410/tax-on-mortgage-payment-made-by-parents

Jazzhands

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

You say you moved her 2 years ago, but arround 18 months ago your parents were going to give you £50k, so what happened to that money and your father?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5627410/tax-on-mortgage-payment-made-by-parents

I moved her 2 years ago but the Park Home hadn't sold at that point and she gave me the money once it had - approx 12 months ago.
My father dies three years ago.

Terry_Towelling

Jazzhands wrote: »

I moved her 2 years ago but the Park Home hadn't sold at that point and she gave me the money once it had - approx 12 months ago.
My father dies three years ago.

I think the question being asked was, 'What happened to the £50K that came your way 18 months ago following an investment return made by your parents?' That appears to be a separate issue to the £70K proceeds of the park home sale.

Anyway, taking your original post at face value, your mum could be accused of deliberate deprivation of assets if she could reasonably have foreseen the need for provision of care at the time the assets were disposed of. If the council does determine this to be a reasonable stance, they will count the £70K as still one of her assets. So, until the value of that 'missing' asset has been used to fund her care, and her overall asset level is down to the minimum limit, she will not qualify for council funding as a matter of course. In other words, you will have to fund it for her.

There are occasions when people can qualify for council-funded care despite their asset level - certain medical reasons for example - and you may want to explore that avenue.

You also need to be careful now because the £50K (that presumably also belonged to your mum after your dad's death 3 years ago) will fall into the same boat.

As a matter of interest, how did the council find out about the sale of the park home and its £70K proceeds? If they start to dig, they will find out about the £50K too. It all looks quite fishy from here - but I accept I don't know the full facts, and circumstances can always be made to look dubious if you spin them hard enough.