Selling 50% of a house to pay for care home fees?

brigez

HI, First post, I've searched previous threads to see if this has been asked before but couldn't find anything.

My Mums house is in a trust with her owning 50% and my brother and myself 25% each. My Mum has been in a care home for the last year and her liquid assets have dropped below the £12500 limit when you can ask the local authority for help
.
After having the local authority financial assessment done they have said that we need to sell my Mums portion of the property so that we can continue to pay the care home fees. Equity release firms won't buy into this arrangement because they want whole ownership, the estate agents I've talked to either won't do it or are very reluctant and I cant find anyone else to help me.

Has anyone here done this before?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

getmore4less

Was there a life interest on the 1/2 in the trust.

Who are the trustees.

Does anyone have POA for mum

Who is living in the house?

Mojisola

There are some situations where the council ignores the value of your mother's share of the house -

Your home also won’t be counted if it’s still occupied by:
your partner or former partner, unless they are estranged from you
your estranged or divorced partner IF they are also a lone parent
a relative who is aged 60 or over
a child of yours aged under 18
a relative who is disabled.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/do-i-have-to-sell-my-home-to-pay-for-care/

If none of those apply, you will have to sell the house to release your mother's money.

The council will arrange a deferred payment scheme whereby they pay towards the care home costs and recoup the money when the house sale goes through.

brigez

I'm not sure of the trust details about the life interest, but I am trying to set up a trustees meeting to explore the best way forward.
The trustees are myself, my brother and my Mum who no longer has mental capacity due to dementia.The solicitors who set the trust up also have some sort of interest but only as advisers I believe.
My brother lives in the house and is unwilling to move out and does not have the funds to buy out Mums share, he doesn't meet the criteria for the local authority to ignore the house value either.

brigez

Also myself and my brother have POA for finance.

AdrianC

brigez wrote: »

HI, First post, I've searched previous threads to see if this has been asked before but couldn't find anything.

My Mums house is in a trust with her owning 50% and my brother and myself 25% each. My Mum has been in a care home for the last year and her liquid assets have dropped below the £12500 limit when you can ask the local authority for help
.
After having the local authority financial assessment done they have said that we need to sell my Mums portion of the property so that we can continue to pay the care home fees. Equity release firms won't buy into this arrangement because they want whole ownership, the estate agents I've talked to either won't do it or are very reluctant and I cant find anyone else to help me.

Has anyone here done this before?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

First question has to be "So who do you think is even remotely likely to buy the other half of the house that you and your brother are clearly emotionally invested in...? And how do you think it's going to work going forward even if you do find a buyer...?"

The other 50% is owned by trusts, with you and your brother as beneficiaries. And as trustees. Presumably, in some kind of cross-arrangement, so you are trustee of his share, and vice-versa.

Surely the obvious answer is to sell those shares, too, so the house can be sold, well, normally? If you really don't want to let your share go, because of emotional involvement, then the only realistic answer is to buy your mother's half yourselves.

Fire_Fox

brigez wrote: »

My brother lives in the house and is unwilling to move out and does not have the funds to buy out Mums share, he doesn't meet the criteria for the local authority to ignore the house value either.

brigez wrote: »

Also myself and my brother have POA for finance.

Welcome to MSE.

With PoA you and your brother have a legal obligation to act in the best interests of your mother, even if that is counter to your own best interests. If your brother is unwilling or unable to do this he should 'resign' or 'relinquish' PoA.

Would you be willing to force a sale of the (whole) property on your brother in order that your mother's needs are met?

AnotherJoe

brigez wrote: »

IMy brother lives in the house and is unwilling to move out and does not have the funds to buy out Mums share, he doesn't meet the criteria for the local authority to ignore the house value either.

What's his plan, stay there till the bailiffs come ? The house is going to be sold, he needs to face up to reality. If he doesn't, the authority will take legal action to kick him out and sell it which will cost both of you a chunk of money.

[Deleted User]

You may have seen this but you could point your brother towards the webpage

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/do-i-have-to-sell-my-home-to-pay-for-care/

getmore4less

You have to sort out what sort of trust it is.

Chances are you and your brother have no beneficial interest in the property.

You may be legal owners as trustees but don't own anything yourself.

As trustees you should know this already.

AnotherJoe

getmore4less wrote: »

You have to sort out what sort of trust it is.

Chances are you and your brother have no beneficial interest in the property.

You may be legal owners as trustees but don't own anything yourself.

As trustees you should know this already.

I suspect they do, and that dad left his 50% to the brothers in his will, to protect half the house from care home fees.