Tenants in Common 15 March at 4:24PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 13 replies 485 views

MAGannon

Been advised to change our home from joint tenants to tenants in common to "protect" 50% of it from means testing for care fees, to leave some inheritance to the children. Are there any downsides to doing this, such as selling the home that's in trust when my wife or I pass, accessing the trust in any way prior to the survivor also passing? Thanks.

The_Unready

"Are there any downsides to doing this...."

Only for the taxpayer and your comfort in old age, so don't worry about it.

Keep_pedalling

You don’t say how old you are or what the value of your house is, but there is a better reason to do and that is to protect your children’s inheritance from a your spouse remarrying after your demise. 

You should take professional advice from a local solicitor on this rather than someone who just want to charge some fat fees by putting on the foreigners about care fees. 

kipperman

Keep_pedalling said:

You don’t say how old you are or what the value of your house is, but there is a better reason to do and that is to protect your children’s inheritance from a your spouse remarrying after your demise. 

You should take professional advice from a local solicitor on this rather than someone who just want to charge some fat fees by putting on the foreigners about care fees. 

I'm guessing that's "frighteners"......

tealady

Hi
I would watch last nights Martin Lewis show, it did touch on this subject.
However it can depend where in the UK you live as to who inherits if one of you dies without a will.

Mojisola

tealady said:

Hi
I would watch last nights Martin Lewis show, it did touch on this subject.
However it can depend where in the UK you live as to who inherits if one of you dies without a will.

There's little point in changing to TiC unless you also have a will saying that your share goes to someone other than your spouse.

msb1234

my step my stepfather is in a care home being paid for by the local authority. He has no money himself. It’s pretty grim really, compared to the other residents who are self funding. My daughters have both said that they would rather any money from the sale of my house be used to pay for my care if needed.
For comparison, the average length of stay in a care home is around 12 months. Self funders would pay around 50K. If their house were worth £200k that still leaves a not insignificant sum for their children. 

Don’t forget, any income from pensions that the person in care needs would go towards their fees if they were not self funding. So if the person in care has the bigger private pension, but they are not self funding, that pension will go towards their fees less £24 a week. So if their spouse is reliant on the pension, they could find themselves with less income. It’s no use having a house if you haven’t got the income to live comfortably.

lisyloo

I don't think you can deliberately deprive yourself of assets to avoid care fees.
You can certainly do this to avoid inheritance tax on second death though and it's a common thing to do.

Keep_pedalling

kipperman said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You don’t say how old you are or what the value of your house is, but there is a better reason to do and that is to protect your children’s inheritance from a your spouse remarrying after your demise. 

You should take professional advice from a local solicitor on this rather than someone who just want to charge some fat fees by putting on the foreigners about care fees. 

I'm guessing that's "frighteners"......

You guess correctly, flipping auto correct!

Keep_pedalling

lisyloo said:

I don't think you can deliberately deprive yourself of assets to avoid care fees.
You can certainly do this to avoid inheritance tax on second death though and it's a common thing to do.

Splitting the tenancy is not deprivation of assets. 

Pennylane

We have just drafted our Wills and brought this up with the Solicitor. We are Joint Tenants and her advice was to stay as we are and, in any case, only a very small proportion of people actually end their days in care homes. 

My Mum had to self fund in a care home for over 3 years which at the time did upset  me as she was not wealthy but had to sell her house to fund her care.  However, I can now say, hand on heart, that she got the best possible care during that time, she was safe and warm, she was well fed and the staff loved her. Yes, she paid a lot for it but she got the best care anywhere and it was her own money. 

Contrast that to a lady I know  who ended up in a shockingly bad care home funded by social services because her daughter persuaded her to sell her bungalow, get a housing society rented property and put most of the proceeds in a dodgy Trust which she cannot touch.  

If you do end up in a care home would you rather be in a really good one of your choice and pay for it with your own money or get dumped  in any old one chosen by social services because it’s all they will pay?