Selling my parent's home whist in care.

greatcrested

No one said you cannot sell. One of your questions was "am I in a position to give my niece her share of the house whilst my mother is still alive? " and that is what we were all saying a categorical 'No' to!

But as others have said, the other issue with selling is the Charge. To sell, you will have to discharge (pay off) the Charge. So either you

1) sell and use (some of) the proceeds to pay off the Charge (just as if it were a mortgage). If you subsequently win your claim for NHS Continuing Care, you'll have to then reclaim the money from the DSS (or whoever it is).

2) wait till your claim is resolved. If you win, the Charge will be removed and you can sell. If you lose, you can sell, pay off the Charge, and all will be resolved leaving you with the balance to manage as you see fit.

elsien

frogglet said:

Also as far as i was told for my uncle, continuing care can be reviewed. It isn't a one off decision.

This is true. It is reviewed annually and people can and do lose full funding if their circumstances have changed. 

And before anyone says their relative isn’t going to get better, full CHC funding is for complex needs. So someone may be funded due to behavioural support needs, but their behaviour may become easier to manage as their dementia progresses and they become less mobile, for example. In which case they may lose the full funding and just qualify for the nursing top up. Which is some circumstances may then necessitate a move somewhere cheaper, unfortunately. 

So the OP needs to bear this in mind with regards to the house sale money. 

greatcrested

theartfullodger said:

Mum can cancel LPA or otherwise change her will.  Might decide to leave everything to Battersea Dogs home.

Counting, chickens, hatching....

OP said " My mother has dementia and cannot change her will. "

elsien

Thrugelmir said:

The local authority holds a legal charge over the property to secure the debt owed. It's not posssible for you to sell the property even if you wanted to, let alone distribute the released equity.  Charges are put in place for this very reason. 

This is incorrect. The house can be sold as long as the charge is paid. 

Thrugelmir

elsien said:

Thrugelmir said:

The local authority holds a legal charge over the property to secure the debt owed. It's not posssible for you to sell the property even if you wanted to, let alone distribute the released equity.  Charges are put in place for this very reason. 

This is incorrect. The house can be sold as long as the charge is paid. 

Did you bother to read my subsequent post in response to exactly the same point?   

frogglet

On  another note have you thought about using your mums yearly gift allowance.

[Deleted User]

frogglet said:

On  another note have you thought about using your mums yearly gift allowance.

What is a yearly gift allowance?

JGB1955

frogglet said:

On  another note have you thought about using your mums yearly gift allowance.

How would that be in your mother's best interests? 

68ComebackSpecial

frogglet said:

On  another note have you thought about using your mums yearly gift allowance.

That would only be deemed reasonable if it followed a pattern established by the mother prior to her illness and the POA being invoked. If she typically gave/ spent £25 per person as a birthday gift it would not be reasonable to increase it to £1,000. 

Keep_pedalling

Beatboy said:

frogglet said:

On  another note have you thought about using your mums yearly gift allowance.

What is a yearly gift allowance?

The amount you can give away each year that does not have to wait 7 years to fall out of your estate for inheritance tax purposes, so a totally spurious suggestion.