Deed Of Variation - Could Coucil Claim Varied Money For Nursing Fees?

woodbine66

This is more a theoretical question about something that may or may not occur in the future. My mother inherited a sizeable estate from a close relative last year. She completed a Deed Of Variation last December so that half of the estate goes to me. She is in her mid 80s and is getting a bit frailer. Still independent in many areas, but age is starting to take it's toll.

If in the near future (12 months - 4 years???) she needed to go into a nursing home and used up all of her savings and assets on paying home fees, could the council pursue me for the half of the inherited estate that was varied to me for further costs?

Many thanks for any advice.

xylophone

The Council would need to show that the Variation was done to obtain or increase means tested benefits.

This does not appear to be the case here - your mother may have had very cogent reasons for her decision - avoiding an increase to an IHT bill may have been one of them.

And apart from that, it would appear that your mother has quite substantial assets  remaining?
https://whentheygetolder.co.uk/care/care-homes/paying-for-care-homes/care-fees-funding-and-deprivation-of-assets-the-rules/

Brynsam

woodbine66 said:

This is more a theoretical question about something that may or may not occur in the future. My mother inherited a sizeable estate from a close relative last year. She completed a Deed Of Variation last December so that half of the estate goes to me. She is in her mid 80s and is getting a bit frailer. Still independent in many areas, but age is starting to take it's toll.

If in the near future (12 months - 4 years???) she needed to go into a nursing home and used up all of her savings and assets on paying home fees, could the council pursue me for the half of the inherited estate that was varied to me for further costs?

Many thanks for any advice.

The council wouldn't need to pursue you; if they took the view that she made the DoV to avoid care home fees, they would simply refuse to pay towards the cost of her care home fees (or only pay a limited amount). The more likely scenario is that they would insist she moved to a cheaper home - and would you really want that?

woodbine66

xylophone said:

The Council would need to show that the Variation was done to obtain or increase means tested benefits.

This does not appear to be the case here - your mother may have had very cogent reasons for her decision - avoiding an increase to an IHT bill may have been one of them.

And apart from that, it would appear that your mother has quite substantial assets  remaining?
https://whentheygetolder.co.uk/care/care-homes/paying-for-care-homes/care-fees-funding-and-deprivation-of-assets-the-rules/

Thanks for your reply. She was only receiving a state pension before the inheritance, and still does - so no affect on benefits. You are right that the main intention was to mitigate future IHT liabilities. The standard clause was included in the DOV to ensure that it complied with the rules. A signed copy was also sent to HMRC. So, assuming there's nothing to worry about?

Thanks to Brynsam for your reply as well.

getmore4less

If the DOV was done during estate administration and the assets never hit any accounts ask yourself how would anyone find out? 

74jax

Do you need to use the money /estate you recieved?
Should your mother need to go into a home and it's a lower standard than you want, or many miles away etc, if you don't need the money you can select to use this to 'top up' the fees and then have a greater say in the care recieved.
We did something similar, and the home doesn't mind where the money comes from, as long as it does...
Should she not need to go into a home etc, no need to use the money and you have it already.