Care Fees Deferral

Briskly

I'd really appreciate any help.  A very dear friend of mine - a female, 57, has just today suffered a bereavement - her Father passed away. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that her mother has dementia and is has been in a care home for the last 18 months. The  mother and father own the house jointly and so the fees for the home have had to be paid privately - a charge has been put on the house to defer these. The problem is that the father has left his half of the house and his savings to the mother in the will. My friend has her own bedsit 10 miles away near her work but has been living in the family home for the last few years at weekends and a few weekdays to care for her Dad. For the last  5 weeks she has been at the family home working from home via mobile links. The problem is that she now fears she will be forced to leave the family home and all the possessions fairly quickly as her Mother will now own it. Is there any way that she could apply for special consideration to continue to live in the family home? I realise that the council will want all the fees paid eventually but she is driven to absolute despair by the thought of having to move out now. Can the council consider a special deferment, does anyone know? Would appreciate any thoughts ASAP. Thanks.

xylophone

Under current circumstances it seems unlikely that the council would expect any fast action in respect of the family home.

Even at the best of times, it would take time to  arrange a funeral, obtain probate and sell the property. 

Your friend should advise the council in writing of her father's death and ask for guidance as to how to proceed.

Incidentally, you mentioned that the property was owned jointly and then mention that father has left his interest in the property to his wife.

If the property was owned as joint tenants, his interest would not pass by will - it would automatically fall into the sole ownership of his wife - if as tenants-in-common, it can be left by will.

It is difficult to understand why, if the property was owned as T-i-C, the father left his interest to his wife.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77099977/#Comment_77099977

Briskly

Thanks Xylophone. I'm not sure about the joint tenants and T-i-C bit. Might it be that her Father's half is safe from the care home fees?

xylophone

Might it be that her Father's half is safe from the care home fees?

If they were joint tenants, the wife automatically becomes sole owner, so no.

If they were T-i-C the answer is still no if his will left his interest to his wife.

As I said, one of the reasons for severing a joint tenancy to create a tenancy in common is so that each party can leave his interest to somebody other than the joint tenant.

However, it appears that in this case, if the parties were indeed T-i-C, father has still left his interest to his wife - this is the third time recently that this situation has been mentioned on the forum.

Briskly

Thanks again for your help Xylophone - the whole thing is just so unfair.

Mojisola

Briskly said:

The  mother and father own the house jointly and so the fees for the home have had to be paid privately - a charge has been put on the house to defer these.

My friend has her own bedsit 10 miles away near her work but has been living in the family home for the last few years at weekends and a few weekdays to care for her Dad.

If her father was still living in the family home it shouldn't have been included in the financial assessment.

Flugelhorn

Good point Mojisola, maybe they had lots of savings. 

Mojisola

Flugelhorn said:

Good point Mojisola, maybe they had lots of savings. 

I wondered whether that might be the case but then there would be no need for a deferred payment scheme.

74jax

Briskly said:

Thanks again for your help Xylophone - the whole thing is just so unfair.

In what way, that he left his half (if he owned half which we don't know if he did) to his wife? 

Briskly

Mojisola said:

Flugelhorn said:

Good point Mojisola, maybe they had lots of savings. 

I wondered whether that might be the case but then there would be no need for a deferred payment scheme.

I don't think they had a great deal of savings - just above the £23,000 or so threshold. I think maybe I'm right in thinking that nothing should have been taken from the value of the house up until now - just an amount deferred from the Mum's savings?
I meant that the care system seems unfair  - a shame the Dilnot recommendations weren't implemented all those years ago with a cap on the amount people have to pay......

xylophone

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdfh

May be worth a read.