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Joint account or not to protect savings if one of us is in a home

netwiz
Posts: 2 Newbie

My wife and I have the house in both our names and our bank accounts. I'm older than her and she's concerned that if I end up in a home that our joint savings will be assessed for contributions.
Therefore she's suggesting that she open a separate account in her own name only. I'm ok with that, just want to confirm that it's the right thing to do moneywise?
thanks
Therefore she's suggesting that she open a separate account in her own name only. I'm ok with that, just want to confirm that it's the right thing to do moneywise?
thanks
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Comments
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You'd need to be confident that it would be you and not her ending up in a home or it could work against you.
Personally, assuming that at least half of the joint savings have been contributed by you, in your shoes I'd be more annoyed that my spouses priority is to try to keep money for themselves rather than to ensure that you have the best available care if it should be needed.0 -
Generally speaking in a financial assessment money in the joint account is presumed to belong equally to both unless there is evidence to show otherwise. So only half would be counted towards the cost of any care.
however, it may not hurt for her to have an account in her own name as well.
Because unless you have a power-of-attorney in place then if one of you loses capacity then legally speaking, the joint account should be frozen to protect the person who can no longer monitor it for themselves.So if neither of you have power-of-attorney, you might want to put that on your to do list as well.All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.2 -
If you end up in a care home, only your half of your joint savings would be assessed for your care costs. How much joint savings do you have? Does it exceed the threshold above which you are expected to pay for your care?If you move all your joint assets into your wife's name and then require care, the local authority may view that as deprivation of capital and you may be required to pay anyway. Councils are pretty hot on this when they perform their financial assessments.1
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I was under the impression that the £16k limit for savings (or whatever it is now) was in total and not a separate amount for each spouse.1
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NedS said:If you end up in a care home, only your half of your joint savings would be assessed for your care costs. How much joint savings do you have? Does it exceed the threshold above which you are expected to pay for your care?If you move all your joint assets into your wife's name and then require care, the local authority may view that as deprivation of capital and you may be required to pay anyway. Councils are pretty hot on this when they perform their financial assessments.3
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westv said:I was under the impression that the £16k limit for savings (or whatever it is now) was in total and not a separate amount for each spouse.2
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westv said:I was under the impression that the £16k limit for savings (or whatever it is now) was in total and not a separate amount for each spouse.
Paying for permanent residential care | Paying for a care home | Age UK
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.1 -
p00hsticks said:You'd need to be confident that it would be you and not her ending up in a home or it could work against you.
Personally, assuming that at least half of the joint savings have been contributed by you, in your shoes I'd be more annoyed that my spouses priority is to try to keep money for themselves rather than to ensure that you have the best available care if it should be needed.0 -
NedS said:If you end up in a care home, only your half of your joint savings would be assessed for your care costs. How much joint savings do you have? Does it exceed the threshold above which you are expected to pay for your care?If you move all your joint assets into your wife's name and then require care, the local authority may view that as deprivation of capital and you may be required to pay anyway. Councils are pretty hot on this when they perform their financial assessments.0
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Surely transfers between spouses can't be classified as deprivation of assets?
If Mr Smith chose to transfer all his assets to Mrs Smith as soon as it became apparent that he was about to be assessed on his contribution to residential care, "deprivation of assets" could be a consideration?
That said, I would have thought that the spouse left in the marital home would be entitled to reasonable provision?
Suppose for example that all savings were held by one party who had always paid for household maintenance/holidays/ dentistry etc and this could be proven by reference to past history?
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