Threshold

jo.anne

If my grandma has £48k and rents her home, when the time comes when she needs to go into residential care, family are aware she will be self funding. The family are concerned because grandma wants to gift two of her grandsons £5k wedding gifts. One grandson got married a few months ago and the second one gets married next June. Grandma is also trying to give her children large sums of money and the family are getting worried that when the unfortunate happens and she goes into a home that any money gifted would need to considered in her estate and potentially paid back to fund for her care which would mean the grandchildren would be liable, she has four grown up children and no siblings of her own alive, her husband my granddad is also deceased. Also she is started to get memory loss and wondering if it is worth applying for power of attorney so that I can make financial decisions, but when this is mentioned to her she gets defensive and says she can manage her own money which unfortunately it is getting more clear that she cannot, we have organised for her pension to go into her bank and she is then given this cash  each week and over the months she has hidden lots of this money and also had a theft from a carer due to her confusion where she is placing her money, it has been found in the most obscure places and also in the bin but family decided it is her money and she insists she wants it so they continue to give her this pension each week because she is repeating herself (we do believe she has Alzheimers and are waiting for her to be assessed). Just want to know what the best solution for her without worrying her too much that others are taking her money.

Marcon

jo.anne said:

If my grandma has £48k and rents her home, when the time comes when she needs to go into residential care, family are aware she will be self funding. The family are concerned because grandma wants to gift two of her grandsons £5k wedding gifts. One grandson got married a few months ago and the second one gets married next June. Grandma is also trying to give her children large sums of money and the family are getting worried that when the unfortunate happens and she goes into a home that any money gifted would need to considered in her estate and potentially paid back to fund for her care which would mean the grandchildren would be liable, she has four grown up children and no siblings of her own alive, her husband my granddad is also deceased. Also she is started to get memory loss and wondering if it is worth applying for power of attorney so that I can make financial decisions, but when this is mentioned to her she gets defensive and says she can manage her own money which unfortunately it is getting more clear that she cannot, we have organised for her pension to go into her bank and she is then given this cash  each week and over the months she has hidden lots of this money and also had a theft from a carer due to her confusion where she is placing her money, it has been found in the most obscure places and also in the bin but family decided it is her money and she insists she wants it so they continue to give her this pension each week because she is repeating herself (we do believe she has Alzheimers and are waiting for her to be assessed). Just want to know what the best solution for her without worrying her too much that others are taking her money.

If she has Alzheimers, it may be too late for her to make a Power of Attorney - much depends on whether she has periods of lucidity. 

If she goes into a home, then yes, if she's given cash away it will be seen as deprivation of assets and the local council will treat her as if she still 'owned' what she's given away. Sadly, often the only realistic 'solution' is for those given money to put it in a separate savings account and accept it isn't 'theirs' until your grandma dies. 

thegreenone

Does your Grandma have a lot of things to pay for each week using the cash?  Would she notice if she was given less and less each week?  How was Grandma going to give the money to the grandsons for their weddings?

Was Grandma aware of the theft?  If she was, could the family member who gives the cash arrange a special hiding place with her that "only the two of them" know about.   Sorry, not much help just trying to come up with ideas for the interim until you can get something organised.

Mojisola

Hiding money is a typical thing for dementia patients to do - we had to search everything when Mum was at that stage - bins, pockets, books, between the sheets and the mattress, under a corner of the carpet that she'd managed to pull loose .......
If your Gran has reached this stage, you're probably beyond agreeing a secret place with her - she either won't remember it or won't use it because she knows that you know about it.