Wills - house to Beneficiary 1 and rest of estate (cash etc) to Ben. 2. House sold to pay for care

getmore4less

Not hypothetical then

sillygoose1

getmore4less wrote: »

Not hypothetical then

It is, in the sense that the house hasn't been sold to pay for care yet. It's one of a number of possibilities how it could pan out.

silvercar

sillygoose1 wrote: »

Sorry, I may have over-simplified in the original post with things I thought "not relevant" but may actually be relevant.

Jane has doubtful capacity at the moment. The attorney would have to sell the house etc on Jane's behalf.

I will edit the original with some additional info, as I hope that will help answer/explore the situation!

So the attorney could decide to use the cash to pay for care costs or the attorney could decide to rent out the property to provide an income to pay for care costs, both of which benefit one beneficiary.

getmore4less

Only once course of action is needed at this point.

Get jane to decide/explain what they want and make a will that does that if they have capacity.

If too late, POA holds the cards to act in Jane's best interests.

Hanging onto a house jane can't use and will cost money is unlikely to be the best.

sell or rent might be.

elsien

Having said that, if Jane has lost capacity to make a new will then the current one stands as written. There is no way round that.

silvercar

elsien wrote: »

Having said that, if Jane has lost capacity to make a new will then the current one stands as written. There is no way round that.

The problem is that it is hard for the attorney to act impartially when they know that certain courses of action leave them far better off than an alternative. Renting the property out and selling up would both be valid actions, but the longer term effect is very different

Dox

Maybe get some proper guidance (paid for) based on all the facts, rather than a simplified drip feed which makes it impossible to give any sensible input?

troubleinparadise

If your mother still has capacity (as adjudged by the solicitor) despite her dementia diagnosis, and wishes to change her Will to perhaps a 50/50 split of her estate, then that would be a simple solution to your dilemma. If it is too late for that, then perhaps your co-beneficiary would agree to a Deed of Variation based on the circumstances you describe.

Jane’s assets remain hers until her death, and in this instance will be used to pay for residential care fees. Unless her house is to be used to achieve rental income to contribute to her care fees, it would make better financial sense to sell it and avoid the cost and headache of upkeep (out of Jane’s assets?) purely for a future beneficiary.

Those care fees can mount up quickly, and your mother might need care for some years. She is fortunate to have the ability to pay for hopefully good quality care, and it is better to view her assets as a means to achieve that rather than as a future inheritance.

nom_de_plume

I came across a similar situation some years back and sought advice on this subject. I was advised that it is possible to sell a property and to "ring-fence" the sale proceeds in such a way as they are deemed to be the same as the property for the purposes of future estate distribution.

If my memory serves me correctly, the advice came from an HMRC helpline call.

Quite how it would work in practice, I never ended up having to find out as the testator passed before the property was sold.


One to seek out some professional advice on, methinks.

sillygoose1

troubleinparadise wrote: »

If your mother still has capacity (as adjudged by the solicitor) despite her dementia diagnosis, and wishes to change her Will to perhaps a 50/50 split of her estate, then that would be a simple solution to your dilemma. If it is too late for that, then perhaps your co-beneficiary would agree to a Deed of Variation based on the circumstances you describe.

Jane’s assets remain hers until her death, and in this instance will be used to pay for residential care fees. Unless her house is to be used to achieve rental income to contribute to her care fees, it would make better financial sense to sell it and avoid the cost and headache of upkeep (out of Jane’s assets?) purely for a future beneficiary.

Those care fees can mount up quickly, and your mother might need care for some years. She is fortunate to have the ability to pay for hopefully good quality care, and it is better to view her assets as a means to achieve that rather than as a future inheritance.

Thank you! I think the "Deed of Variation" is the information I was after / had been missing.

I assumed that the Will had to be carried out (assuming Jane doesn't have capacity to change it) as it's written, in that the executor has to carry out the will as stated even if the beneficiaries would agree otherwise.

The other beneficiary and I could agree a way to split the money (if any was left after care fees!!) if the house had been 'liquidated'. I didn't think that was a realistic option as I thought there would be some tax etc implications with that, as I am also the beneficiary of the other person if/when the time comes.