Selling house to pay for care home

loulou41

Am not sure where to post this for advice. I am posting this on behalf of the daughter of a friend who has asked for my advice. 75 yrs old mother who is a widow has just been diagnosed with dementia. They have been advised to get poa for health and welfare as soon as possible as she will only be getting worse. She has savings of over £25,000 and owes her house outright worth about £400,000. She has a mutual will where the house will pass to her two adult children on her death. Can the council force a sell if she needs care or can they ask for deferred payment? Currently she lives alone and she has a sister who is 65. If the sister is willing to live with her to help then the house might not be assessed. The other option is for her adult son to live there with his family but he lives in a house association. Once she goes into care which will happen the family will be homeless. Sorry if posted in wrong forum not sure whether to post in dear,probate and over 50 to get more response and advice. Thanks a lot.

Browntoa

The property is now to be used for her care I'm afraid.

All the records to this date show only her living there the other people you mentioned are living elsewhere (again records like council tax will prove they live elsewhere )

Anything else is deprivation of assets

You can defer the sale but the council will put a charge on it .

I'd tell your friend that I'd look at selling the property ( with the financial poa ) and using the money to find good quality care for their mother when required . The bulk of the money can be invested to get a decent return in the meantime.

Unless you are really lucky low cost council funded accommodation is not great .

They are likely to pay a top up fee , any pensions and income are taken to pay for care except for around £26 a week for personal use . You top up the difference between that and the full care home charge.

I've always told my mum that her money is for her care , not for us an inheritance . I'd rather my mum lived a decent life in a decent home personally

Flugelhorn

One thing to remember is that if you can pay for your own care then you have a choice over where and what that care is - if you have some amazing scheme to avoid the property being assessed/ sold etc then you have no choice.

Do you mean mutual will or mirror will?

Mojisola

loulou41 wrote: »

I am posting this on behalf of the daughter of a friend who has asked for my advice.

75 yrs old mother who is a widow has just been diagnosed with dementia.

She has a mutual will where the house will pass to her two adult children on her death.

Currently she lives alone and she has a sister who is 65. If the sister is willing to live with her to help then the house might not be assessed.

Are they really so intent on keeping an inheritance that they want their mother to go into the lowest level of care after aunt's physical and mental health has been wrecked from being a 24/7 carer?

00ec25

loulou41 wrote: »

Currently she lives alone ....

Once she goes into care which will happen the family will be homeless.

how can anyone be homeless when she lives there alone?

what you really mean is will the family lose their inheritance? Yes, they will.

you talk about a PoA - do you realise that the trustees of PoA have a legal duty to act in her best interest, not the best interest of their inheritance.
Her best interest is that her money is used to buy the best care she can get

You will note the above does not involve the council.

When the council get involved, yes they can require the property be sold since it is not occupied by anyone who has to be protected.

csgohan4

Pay for care like everyone else, there is a reason why the deprivation of assets was put in place, to stop people taking advantage of the tax payer.

Larac

csgohan4 wrote: »

Pay for care like everyone else, there is a reason why the deprivation of assets was put in place, to stop people taking advantage of the tax payer.

This is fine and I have been through this with my own late Mother who had to pay for care. However the 'state' discriminates against people who have dementia - they don't treat it as a terminal illness which it is and does not get the support as other terminal illnesses do in this country I don't recall people who need hospice care having to pay for it.

Cakeguts

It is the mother's money. She is going to move home to a care home and her house will be sold as usual to pay for her next home the care home. This money belongs to the mother to be used for her benefit it isn't someone's inheritance.



Forget the inheritance aspect and use the mother's money for the benefit of the mother.

csgohan4

Larac wrote: »

This is fine and I have been through this with my own late Mother who had to pay for care. However the 'state' discriminates against people who have dementia - they don't treat it as a terminal illness which it is and does not get the support as other terminal illnesses do in this country I don't recall people who need hospice care having to pay for it.

Could be a post code lottery as well, people do get hospice care for terminal dementia where deterioration can lead to frailty and shortening of life

But understandably dementia there is less predictability with life expectancy than say end stage lung cancer

Obviously your local council has thresholds where you don't need to pay which is reasonable, but unfortunately not one size fits all and hence some people will be unhappy

In an ideal world, no one would pay, but who would fund that?

lisyloo

csgohan4 wrote: »

Could be a post code lottery as well, people do get hospice care for terminal dementia where deterioration can lead to frailty and shortening of life

But understandably dementia there is less predictability with life expectancy than say end stage lung cancer

Obviously your local council has thresholds where you don't need to pay which is reasonable, but unfortunately not one size fits all and hence some people will be unhappy

In an ideal world, no one would pay, but who would fund that?

Depends on the need.
If the primary needs are medical then it would be funded.
Often in dimensia the needs are personal e.g. walking, feeding, dressing washing.

I would rather empty homes were used for funded rather than taxpayers money and I say that as a potential beneficiary.
Is it really fair for young families to pay so the elderly can hoard empty homes?

loulou41

The adult children know they will have to sell the house to pay for care. The mother has a mutual will and the house can only be sold on her death. Just asking whether they could defer payment or council put a charge on the house. Mother comes first. With her mutual will they do not even know if she can downsize. Have got the feeling solicitor is the executor. Mutual wills were created 50 yrs ago and never been updated.The adult children attitude we will deal with the issues as they arise.