Should we separate my in-laws money when one goes into care? 6 April 2022 at 7:29PM in Marriage, relationships & families 11 replies 761 views

Chris_derby

Hi,

My mother-in-law has just gone into a care home due to having dementia.

Most of my father-in-law & my mother-in-law’s bank accounts is combined in joint accounts, do we need to separate the money so that my father-in-law’s money isn’t used to pay for my mother-in-law’s care?

We currently can’t access some of her money because he doesn’t have power of attorney so he might have to use his own money to pay for her care at moment.

Any advice would be appreciated? Thanks.

Loza2016

We went through this with my parents when my Dad had dementia and went into care. 

I would advise that you split the joint accounts now. Keep receipts of any payments your Father in laws makes so he can be reimbursed once you have access to your mother in laws money. 

All the best 

sheramber

And get a LPA  done for your father in law.

MalMonroe

Hi, this information from Age UK may be helpful -

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs39-paying-for-care-in-a-care-home-if-you-have-a-partner.pdf

Reforms will be taking place next October (2023) -

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/build-back-better-our-plan-for-health-and-social-care/adult-social-care-charging-reform-further-details

Pollycat

Are Social Services Adult Care involved?
They were when my Dad went into care, they'd arranged various services for him such as a weekly visit to a day centre, carer's to get him up and dressed and once-a-week respite for Mum.
When he had to go into care, we had a visit from someone in the Finance dept who went through their finances.
Dad was self funding but a large amount of their savings was tied up in a fixed term bond.
The council paid for the care until Dad died - it was only a few months - and we could access the bond.
This was 10 years ago so things may have changed.

Keep_pedalling

sheramber said:

And get a LPA  done for your father in law.

Unfortunately it is probably to late for that, so an application to the courts for deputyship will be necessary. That process is longwinded and expensive. 

He should get his share out of the joint accounts asap, and get all of his income to be paid into a sole account. 

Pollycat

Keep_pedalling said:

sheramber said:

And get a LPA  done for your father in law.

Unfortunately it is probably to late for that, so an application to the courts for deputyship will be necessary. That process is longwinded and expensive. 

It's the OP's MIL that has dementia. The OP hasn't said the FIL isn't capable of setting up a LPA so it might not be too late.

Keep_pedalling said:

He should get his share out of the joint accounts asap, and get all of his income to be paid into a sole account. 

And separate any joint benefit claims.

My Mum & Dad had a joint pension credit award and we had to end that and do separate claims.

Keep_pedalling

Pollycat said:

Keep_pedalling said:

sheramber said:

And get a LPA  done for your father in law.

Unfortunately it is probably to late for that, so an application to the courts for deputyship will be necessary. That process is longwinded and expensive. 

It's the OP's MIL that has dementia. The OP hasn't said the FIL isn't capable of setting up a LPA so it might not be too late.

Keep_pedalling said:

He should get his share out of the joint accounts asap, and get all of his income to be paid into a sole account. 

Whoops! I miss read sherambles post. Not enough coffee this morning.

Chris_derby

Thank you all for your replies, very helpful. Been trying to sort stuff out over the last week or so and making abit of progress.

When splitting the joint accounts, is it just a case of going 50:50 from the date she went into care and then sorting payments and cost going forward depending on if it’s for my mother or father-in-law?

The problem we have now is they have a few joint accounts which my father-in-law can get his share out quite easily. However there is probably only enough money in there to pay for care for my mother-in-law for a few weeks (her share). She has a lot of her own savings tied up in her sole accounts which we can’t get access to as we don’t have LPA.

What do we do in a few weeks when my mother-in-law’s share of the joint account runs out? Surely my father-in-law isn’t expected fund this from his share?

We’ve been trying to get in touch with a chap based at the local doctors, I believe he may be part of social services but no luck over the last few days.

elsien

Who arranged for MIL to go into care? Was the local authority involved? Either way  you need to call them via the adult social care duty team. Number will be in their website. 

The local authority can pay until your MILs finances have been sorted out. Has a deputyship been applied for - you need to prioritise that. 

Pollycat

elsien said:

Who arranged for MIL to go into care? Was the local authority involved? Either way  you need to call them via the adult social care duty team. Number will be in their website. 

The local authority can pay until your MILs finances have been sorted out. Has a deputyship been applied for - you need to prioritise that. 

I asked that upthread.
I also explained what happened when my parents were in a similar situation:

Pollycat said:

Are Social Services Adult Care involved?
They were when my Dad went into care, they'd arranged various services for him such as a weekly visit to a day centre, carer's to get him up and dressed and once-a-week respite for Mum.
When he had to go into care, we had a visit from someone in the Finance dept who went through their finances.
Dad was self funding but a large amount of their savings was tied up in a fixed term bond.
The council paid for the care until Dad died - it was only a few months - and we could access the bond.
This was 10 years ago so things may have changed.