Home Protection Trust, will it be a costly mistake?

PennyForThem_2

You WILL NOT have a choice for care home - period!  If you are in hospital they will want to discharge you whereever there is a vaccncy.  You may end up lucky, but you may not.

Talk to your children - the 'Trust' may cause them all sorts of problems on your death - tax, benefit cuts, CGT etc

I cam emphasise with you, but if you live in England what the h*ll are you worrying about?!!!!

oliveoil54

What has where I live got to do with it? 

I watched my husband go through early on set Dementia in England for 5 years before he died using up nearly all our savings, 5 years Lymphoma before & Stemcell Transplant in Scotland, it was awful, but I count myself lucky that he had very good care in both countries. I also learnt a lot about the Care system on the way. Of my Mum’s 10 siblings, 6 had Alzheimer’s, & although my mind is ok I’ve had a few falls recently & it makes you feel vulnerable. I started the Trust process somewhat naively over a year ago, well before I had any physical problems, & am now beginning to realise as per a previous poster’s advice I may just have pay Solicitors fees but not go ahead with Trust!

Thank you to all of you for your forthright comments, I do appreciate it!

Keep_pedalling

oliveoil54 said:

What has where I live got to do with it? O

I watched my husband go through early on set Dementia in England for 5 years before he died using up nearly all our savings, 5 years Lymphoma before & Stemcell Transplant in Scotland, it was awful, but I count myself lucky that he had very good care in both countries. I also learnt a lot about the Care system on the way. Of my Mum’s 10 siblings, 6 had Alzheimer’s, & although my mind is ok I’ve had a few falls recently & it makes you feel vulnerable. I started the Trust process somewhat naively over a year ago, well before I had any physical problems, & am now beginning to realise as per a previous poster’s advice I may just have pay Solicitors fees but not go ahead with Trust!

Thank you to all of you for your forthright comments, I do appreciate it!

You should not have had to use nearly all your saving just those he held solely and 50% of joint savings, although some people would choose to do that rather than fall back on LA funding.

Did you kick instigate the trust investigations or were you approached by the solicitors? I know that a lot of people  only get into this through seminars or because other people who have already done this recommend the company.

lisyloo

PennyForThem_2 said:

You WILL NOT have a choice for care home - period!  If you are in hospital they will want to discharge you whereever there is a vaccncy.  You may end up lucky, but you may not.

Talk to your children - the 'Trust' may cause them all sorts of problems on your death - tax, benefit cuts, CGT etc

I cam emphasise with you, but if you live in England what the h*ll are you worrying about?!!!!

This was not the case where we live (both south glos and BANES).
we had a choice of homes for both MIL & FIL which of course was subject to a availability and LA budgets.
we managed to get both where we wanted but with strong advocacy.

OP - do you have a POA set up?

I don’t think you can guarantee getting the home you want (they may have a long waiting list).

the service may be a postcode lottery but in our are families are consulted/involved if they make themselves available

personally I’d want parents to spend the money and not leave it to me at their detriment 

oliveoil54

Both my children have PofA for me, I had lots of choice for my husband obviously all at varying costs. As it was during Covid sadly, there were no waiting lists. We have 2 quite good LA Homes near us, plus the one my husband was in.
I asked the question on a specialist FB group who give good advice for free, Safeguarding Futures Health & Social Care Support. I’d used the group frequently & had really good advice. I was directed to the Solicitor who set up the Trust at my request.

Keep_pedalling

oliveoil54 said:

Both my children have PofA for me, I had lots of choice for my husband obviously all at varying costs. As it was during Covid sadly, there were no waiting lists. We have 2 quite good LA Homes near us, plus the one my husband was in.
I asked the question on a specialist FB group who give good advice for free, Safeguarding Futures Health & Social Care Support. I’d used the group frequently & had really good advice. I was directed to the Solicitor who set up the Trust at my request.

Although there is good advice available on FB there is also a lot terrible advice (often on the same group) and it is the last place I would look for a solicitor or any other professional services. 

oliveoil54

Unfortunately, I have found trying to get an experienced specialist solicitor who understands the minefield of Care & Trusts very difficult, I did search & referrals or reviews were impossible to find. The above mentioned FB group have really helped & advised lots of people including me & some of my friends. The reason they originally started the group was because they realised that there was a dirth of specific knowledge by Solicitors & Advisors especially in the Care Sector, having both had personally experienced exactly the same scenarios most of us have faced in dealing with these issues. They have thousands of followers, their advice is free & have helped loads of people again at no charge. I had first hand excellent experience of their advice in my husbands earlier stages of Care & their reviews are numerous & always good! So they were definitely my first port of call for this.

[Deleted User]

So basically the trust allows you to keep all your assets for your children to inherit whilst the rest of us  remain liable to pay any of your potential care costs out of taxation. System needs looking at in my opinion.
Whether or not a costly mistake I do not know. A moral one definitely.

oliveoil54

[Deleted User] said:

So basically the trust allows you to keep all your assets for your children to inherit whilst the rest of us  remain liable to pay any of your potential care costs out of taxation. System needs looking at in my opinion.
Whether or not a costly mistake I do not know. A moral one definitely.

I agree, but it’s just such a lottery if you need Care & it’s Cancer, it’s paid for by the State, if you need Care & it’s a serious Heart Condition or a Stroke, it’s paid for by the State. All of the previous conditions don’t look at your financial position, but If you need Care & it’s Dementia unless you fit the CHC incredibly difficult definition of end of life, which so many apply for & so very few get. My Brother in Law’s Brother died in care with Cancer he was in a full 8 months, all his treatment & Care paid for. His share of the house passed to his Sister in his will, the LA didn’t take any payment!! My husband had Carers in the home for a year, then the last 6 months I physically & mentally couldn’t manage so he had to go into a Care Home, he needed the same nursing Care as my BinL’s Brother, eventually dying of Aspiration Pneumonia (on Death Cert - Alzheimer’s, so much easier & quicker to write than his actual death), by this time totally immobile, incontinent, mute, but his eyes definitely worked, because in the middle of Covid against all the rules the Care Home let me & my family in for those brief few hours till he died a few hours after we had left. His eyes the only bit that could move or express followed us all the time! So you tell me  what makes the death sentence of Dementia any different to any of those previous conditions? It’s still a death sentence quite a horrible slow one, but why do we get to pay in my case over £40,000 for the privilege? Whilst the Brother paid nothing. Both of us have paid taxes all our lives & I still do. Why does someone dying from a slow but serious Cancer condition get their Care paid for & you don’t complain about your taxes going to pay for their Care & their children can go on to inherit their property, with no complaints? Yet I try to protect my children’s inheritance & I become a sponger on Society? 

tooldle

Another perspective for you. How easy will it be to dissolve the trust upon your death? I have a friend whose parent did the same as you, specifically as he wanted others to pay for his care and for his money to pass to his kids. More than 18months have now passed since his death and the trust still exists, despite the involvement of the original company and now a new solicitor. Charges are racking up both for legal fees and to maintain / keep an eye on the property. The stress the situation has caused my friend is considerable.
Think long and hard.