Should I pull out or wait? Health issues. Advice would be really appreciated.

bflare

Hello all. Where do I start? My Father passed away last Feb from a 3 month battle with Lung Cancer. He left me some money in his will which I wanted to put to some good use for myself & my 14-year-old son who I took full custody of around two years ago. I have been renting as a single man for around 13 years trying to save for a deposit but could never manage it. The money which my Dad left me was enough to but down a 10% deposit as well as furnish a full property & still have a small amount left over to bank for an emergency fund. I put an offer down last Year on a lovely 2 Bed house a stone throw away from my Son's school & it was accepted. I have had the searches done, a mortgage offer issued, a survey & various other things that have cost me a couple of thousand pounds. My mortgage offer expires at the end of this March. I still have not got a completion date however, it was estimated to be Jan / Feb but I have a suspicion it could be April as someone in the chain is buying a new build. I suspect April as this was the date first given but when I said this was not ideal for me they suddenly changed it to Jan / Feb. So that's where I am with the house buying. It was all moving along nicely & I was looking forward to eventually owning my own home. 

I was looking into life insurance because although I am single at the moment I do have my 14-Year-old son & my plan was if anything was when i passed away hopefully in a fair for more years the house would go to him. This would mean my Dad's money from his will would make sure my Son would have some stability in life as he's not had the best childhood so far. This was another reason for me wanting to buy as I have the feeling my current landlord is wanting to sell her house in the very near future & I wanted to give us both some stability & security. I had a routine medical for a life insurance policy & a blood test came back with abnormal liver enzymes so they declined to offer. I contacted my GP who ran some more tests over Christmas & I have had most of the results back. I have talked them through with my GP & unfortunately, it appears that I have liver disease & at this stage, it does look like it may be fibrosis. I have to have further tests to see what stage it is at & whether it's progressed to cirrhosis. Also, it appears I might have hemochromatosis which is a rare inherited condition where iron levels in the body slowly build up over many years. This may be the course of the liver problem, It can be treated however until we know how damaged my liver is my GP is unable to give me any more information. 

This has really put a spanner in the works with the house buying & I have absolutely no idea whether or not I should go ahead. I have various concerns such as it is doubtful I will be able to get any life insurance with liver disease especially if it is at the end-stage. So if I was to pass away before the mortgage was paid my Son would not inherit the house as I first planned as I would have no insurance to pay off the remaining mortgage. I have contacted a specialist insurance company asking for their advice but have not heard anything back as of yet. 

Although, I am perfectly fine at the moment & the discovery of the liver problems were incidental I have no idea if my health will deteriorate to a point I cannot work & pay the mortgage.

These are my initial thoughts & options that I am considering.

1) Pull out which would save me around 20k from the deposit & bank it in case my health does deteriorate & continue to rent but find somewhere else. Use some of the cash on furnishings that place as the place I am in now is fully furnished so I have no furniture.

2) Hang on a little while longer before I decide what to do as I still haven't had a formal diagnosis or an appointment with the liver doctor? Apparently, people can live quite a normal life for decades if the liver is still functioning ok.

3) Continue & buy the house without insurance which would just mean if anything was to happen to me before I paid off the mortgage the house would be sold by the mortgage company & hopefully my Son would inherit some of the money left over. 

As I say I am a FTB so I have little knowledge of house buying, life insurance, etc so my above options may not be feasible. 

Sorry for the long post but I literally have no idea what to do & the stress of this together with waiting for more news on my health isn't doing me any good.  

Would really appreciate some advice/ideas/options that I could consider. 

Thanks.

deannagone

Hi, very sorry to hear about the health problems.  As its not likely that you are going to exchange imminently, I would imagine you will have a better idea of what the causes are, which will enable you to make some kind of plan once this does become imminent.  

However, I am sorry, I don't think Life Insurance is going to be possible but I could be wrong.  Insurance is for unexpected health problems and I'm afraid you know there is possibly some sort of problem - which will be excluded.  Insurers are quite difficult about also excluding any condition that might have some possible link with the main condition when it comes to pay outs too.    

I'd suggest not rushing the house purchase at all, if possible, tell your solicitor to put things on hold so you don't incur more costs.  And wait for a more clear idea on what the problem is, what treatments are on offer and what the prognosis is.  Then you can decide what to do about the House Purchase.  

I probably would look at appointing a responsible person to help support your son (including dealing with finances) if there is a need at some point.  Counselling for him might be of some benefit too. 

canaldumidi

I'd suggest you get in touch with Macmillan here. Their website has a section devoted to insurance. I also have  a cancer and was surprised at the availability of travel insurance. Life cover may be harder.

(note - their website seems to be down today).

It's also worth contacting them anyway. They offer more general financial advice, benefit claims advice, as well as a wealth of information about various cancers. They also provide emotional support if you just need someone to talk to.

I've no experience of https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/ but they may also have useful information.

If the likely date is now April, you have a little time, so do nothing yet and wait for more information on your condition. A bit hard on others in the chain if you pull out near the Completion date, but you may decide to proceed. And you really have to do what's best for you, not the chain.

If you can't get life cover, then should the worst happen, your mortgage would be untenable. Either your Executers, or the bank, would have to sell the property. Your Estate would receive whatever equity there was ie the sale price less outstanding mortgage, which would hopefully be similar to the deposit you put in. If prices have risen, it could be more.

At some point, after you know more,and have got your head round your diagnosis (not easy, I know....) you should speak to a solicitor about a will. You'll need to consider who will care for your son,and also who will look after your (his) money. Could be the same person/people,or diferent.You'llprobably need to set up a trust for him in your will. Either of those charities will advise on this too I imagine.

OK - that's my brain-dump.

Final thought: When I was diagnosed I was gven around 3 years. That was in 2006............

Hodge58

Go and see an IFA who has access to all life providers. I have dealt with cases in the past were they make an exclusion for the ongoing issues or raise the premium to reflect the risk. A lot will depend on your Doctors report.
Term assurance is a life companies most printable contract so they won't refuse that unless the risk is deemed to high.

I am clearly not a Doctor but my daughter is and the Liver can repair itself.

bflare

canaldumidi said:

I'd suggest you get in touch with Macmillan here. Their website has a section devoted to insurance. I also have  a cancer and was surprised at the availability of travel insurance. Life cover may be harder.

(note - their website seems to be down today).

It's also worth contacting them anyway. They offer more general financial advice, benefit claims advice, as well as a wealth of information about various cancers. They also provide emotional support if you just need someone to talk to.

I've no experience of https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/ but they may also have useful information.

If the likely date is now April, you have a little time, so do nothing yet and wait for more information on your condition. A bit hard on others in the chain if you pull out near the Completion date, but you may decide to proceed. And you really have to do what's best for you, not the chain.

If you can't get life cover, then should the worst happen, your mortgage would be untenable. Either your Executers, or the bank, would have to sell the property. Your Estate would receive whatever equity there was ie the sale price less outstanding mortgage, which would hopefully be similar to the deposit you put in. If prices have risen, it could be more.

At some point, after you know more,and have got your head round your diagnosis (not easy, I know....) you should speak to a solicitor about a will. You'll need to consider who will care for your son,and also who will look after your (his) money. Could be the same person/people,or diferent.You'llprobably need to set up a trust for him in your will. Either of those charities will advise on this too I imagine.

OK - that's my brain-dump.

Final thought: When I was diagnosed I was gven around 3 years. That was in 2006............

Thank you for your reply & I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis. 

I am going to give the British Liver Trust helpline a call & see if they are able to offer some advice. My initial thoughts are to hold on a little while longer & see if I get any further information on my diagnosis. At this stage, all i know is that various liver enzymes/tests have come back abnormal.

When my Dad passed away the first thing I did was get a solicitor to write a will & sort out plus appoint a guardian for my Son who would also take care of my Estate. My Son has a 27-year-old stepsister who I appointed as well as my best friend so I think I have all that covered. I would just have to update it if I still went ahead with the house purchase. 

Really glad that you're still with us that's 16 years since your diagnosis! I truly believe if we look after ourselves after diagnosis we can extend the time we have. 

canaldumidi

bflare said:

canaldumidi said:

I'd suggest you get in touch with Macmillan here. Their website has a section devoted to insurance. I also have  a cancer and was surprised at the availability of travel insurance. Life cover may be harder.

(note - their website seems to be down today).

It's also worth contacting them anyway. They offer more general financial advice, benefit claims advice, as well as a wealth of information about various cancers. They also provide emotional support if you just need someone to talk to.

I've no experience of https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/ but they may also have useful information.

If the likely date is now April, you have a little time, so do nothing yet and wait for more information on your condition. A bit hard on others in the chain if you pull out near the Completion date, but you may decide to proceed. And you really have to do what's best for you, not the chain.

If you can't get life cover, then should the worst happen, your mortgage would be untenable. Either your Executers, or the bank, would have to sell the property. Your Estate would receive whatever equity there was ie the sale price less outstanding mortgage, which would hopefully be similar to the deposit you put in. If prices have risen, it could be more.

At some point, after you know more,and have got your head round your diagnosis (not easy, I know....) you should speak to a solicitor about a will. You'll need to consider who will care for your son,and also who will look after your (his) money. Could be the same person/people,or diferent.You'llprobably need to set up a trust for him in your will. Either of those charities will advise on this too I imagine.

OK - that's my brain-dump.

Final thought: When I was diagnosed I was gven around 3 years. That was in 2006............

...... the first thing I did was get a solicitor to write a will ......... I would just have to update it if I still went ahead with the house purchase.

If you have a decent will, you probably won't need to update it.

It's usually a mistake to name specific properties in a will. After all, if you move,you then have toamend your will each time. It also restricts what your Executers can do. And may cause problems if, for example, the Estate has to pay Inheritance Tax and the only way to do that is to sell the property which the will specifically leaves to someone.

Treat the property simply as part of the assets of the Estate, just like your car, your watch etc.They don't need naming.

The Executers can then either pass the property (along with your savings, car and watch!) to the Beneficiary (your son), or sell it, at their best discretion, which may be diffrerent in X years time to what you imagine today.

Racky_Roo

Do you have a death in service benefit with your employer? If so, would that be enough to cover the cost of the mortgage? Might mean life insurance is less important if so.

bflare

Racky_Roo said:

Do you have a death in service benefit with your employer? If so, would that be enough to cover the cost of the mortgage? Might mean life insurance is less important if so.

Very good point and yes I do. Even if it's not enough to pay off the mortgage it should be enough to help my Son if anything was to happen to me and that's my main concern so as you say life insurance may be less important. I shall look at my policy and see what the numbers are. Thanks.

saajan_12

If completion is delayed, then you may have some breathing space anyway, but otherwise maybe step back and separate the issues. If your lender is happy with it, then buying a house without life insurance is similar to continuing to rent if the worst happens.. ie mortgage can't be paid, house repossessed / sold and the equity goes to your estate ie son. There may be some extra costs for buying / selling etc, but then hopefully you've also paid off some of the mortgage and hence grown the equity. Vs if you never bought, then you'd have the same money as savings which you can just top up. Either way, its not an entire house, but its everything you have and the executor / guardian / son if old enough would decide how best to use it for son (eg deposit on his own house, or rent for x years, etc)

Titus_Wadd

Haemochromatosis runs in my husband's family, his father has it and with regular treatment he's lived well into his 80s with organ damage minimised once he was diagnosed.  Fortunately my husband and son are free of the disease.  It is a frightening diagnosis but I hope you can receive treatment to extend your life expectancy.  Sorry I have no financial advice but I'm sending you just good wishes for you and your son.

bflare

saajan_12 said:

If completion is delayed, then you may have some breathing space anyway, but otherwise maybe step back and separate the issues. If your lender is happy with it, then buying a house without life insurance is similar to continuing to rent if the worst happens.. ie mortgage can't be paid, house repossessed / sold and the equity goes to your estate ie son. There may be some extra costs for buying / selling etc, but then hopefully you've also paid off some of the mortgage and hence grown the equity. Vs if you never bought, then you'd have the same money as savings which you can just top up. Either way, its not an entire house, but its everything you have and the executor / guardian / son if old enough would decide how best to use it for son (eg deposit on his own house, or rent for x years, etc)

This is exactly the conclusion i have come to. Yes if the worse happens my son wouldn't inherit the house but he would still benefit from the equity that was left. Plus I have 2 pensions that pay out and 3 times my salary death in service so I think he would be more than ok. Thanks.