Elderly parents, wills and one with dementia

GryffR

My Mother (89) has dementia and was placed in a care home last September. My Father (91) still lives in the marital home which was in joint names.
My sister and I have LPOA for them both, health and financial.
The Marital home has been sold and My father has bought a flat to be near Mum, this flat is in his name only. This is still going through the conveyancing as i write this.
They have mirror wills but do not take into account that she now has dementia, they were written at least 10 years ago.
The saving have all been moved into two separate joint named accounts (their names) that I have LPOA access.

My Father's health is good for his 91 years. 

My question's are, should my parents ammend their wills because of her dementia? Obviously she cannot change hers but he can his to allow for her continuing care should he pass first and I do not know where we stand as attorneys if he should pass first.

Also because the new flat is just in his name (she has no knowledge of this because of her mental state that will not improve) but it was bought with their joint money. Should he pass first we would sell the flat and put the proceeds into their joint account. Is this all legal?

elsien

GryffR said:

My Mother (89) has dementia and was placed in a care home last September. My Father (91) still lives in the marital home which was in joint names.
My sister and I have LPOA for them both, health and financial.
The Marital home has been sold and My father has bought a flat to be near Mum, this flat is in his name only. This is still going through the conveyancing as i write this.
They have mirror wills but do not take into account that she now has dementia, they were written at least 10 years ago.
The saving have all been moved into two separate joint named accounts (their names) that I have LPOA access.

My Father's health is good for his 91 years. 

My question's are, should my parents ammend their wills because of her dementia? Obviously she cannot change hers but he can his to allow for her continuing care should he pass first and I do not know where we stand as attorneys if he should pass first.

Also because the new flat is just in his name (she has no knowledge of this because of her mental state that will not improve) but it was bought with their joint money. Should he pass first we would sell the flat and put the proceeds into their joint account. Is this all legal?

Sorry I’m slightly confused. How can your father still live in the marital home if it’s been sold? Or is that where the conveyancing is still going through so you’re waiting for him to move?

What is happening with her share of the house finance as it was in joint names but the new property isn’t?  As her power-of-attorney, you should be ensuring that her share of the proceeds do come to her otherwise you are looking at deliberate deprivation of assets.
What does your father want do? 

Is she self funding at the moment or not, because the house would have been disregarded while he was still living in it, but now that it’s been sold and a new place been brought just for him that could change with her share of the proceeds. Might be different if a new flat was in both names  – that’s something you would need to check.

You’re focusing on what might happen when your father passes away, but you also need to be thinking about her change financial circumstances now because of the house sale.

p00hsticks

How is your mothers care being funded ?
 

GryffR

Mum is being funded through their joint savings (aprox £400k) at £1250 a week. 
Dad has sold the house and is waiting to move. The money (£500k) from the sale of the house will go directly into their joint bank account so there is no deprivation of assets.
He is buying the flat (£110k) though from the joint account too and that flat will be soley in his name.

Keep_pedalling

GryffR said:

Mum is being funded through their joint savings (aprox £400k) at £1250 a week. 
Dad has sold the house and is waiting to move. The money (£500k) from the sale of the house will go directly into their joint bank account so there is no deprivation of assets.
He is buying the flat (£110k) though from the joint account too and that flat will be soley in his name.

It would be a good idea to split their finances now. If your father were to die suddenly with everything in joint accounts your mother would end up with all the savings regardless of what his will stipulates. 

GryffR

Keep_pedalling said:

GryffR said:

Mum is being funded through their joint savings (aprox £400k) at £1250 a week. 
Dad has sold the house and is waiting to move. The money (£500k) from the sale of the house will go directly into their joint bank account so there is no deprivation of assets.
He is buying the flat (£110k) though from the joint account too and that flat will be soley in his name.

It would be a good idea to split their finances now. If your father were to die suddenly with everything in joint accounts your mother would end up with all the savings regardless of what his will stipulates. 

But would that be a problem? As we need to pay for continuing care out of the joint account which I have LPOA ?
Also, takinghalf of the money and putting in his name would be deprivation surely?

elsien

Because if you continuing to pay for care out of the joint account, how do you work out what is your mum’s share and what is your dads?

He’s entitled to share of their savings for himself, and if Mum’s half runs out on the way things are set up now she will start to use his proportion, 

Now that the house is being sold, the property has been brought in his sole name it does seem like a good time to separate things out and make sure that Mum gets an equivalent share from the sale of the house. Then things will be clearer for both of them, moving forwards.

If you ever do, you need local authority funding and they do a financial assessment, the starting point would be that joint accounts and savings are 50-50 so only half would be taken into account. 

So this shouldn’t be a problem with doing that now, as long as there’s a clear paper trail and it’s done fairly for both of them.

Then get your mum’s attendance allowance and other income paid into the account in her name.

Keep_pedalling

GryffR said:

Keep_pedalling said:

GryffR said:

Mum is being funded through their joint savings (aprox £400k) at £1250 a week. 
Dad has sold the house and is waiting to move. The money (£500k) from the sale of the house will go directly into their joint bank account so there is no deprivation of assets.
He is buying the flat (£110k) though from the joint account too and that flat will be soley in his name.

It would be a good idea to split their finances now. If your father were to die suddenly with everything in joint accounts your mother would end up with all the savings regardless of what his will stipulates. 

But would that be a problem? As we need to pay for continuing care out of the joint account which I have LPOA ?
Also, takinghalf of the money and putting in his name would be deprivation surely?

No it would not be DoA your father’s savings are not included in her financial assessment. Probable the easiest thing to do is set up new sole accounts for your father then once that is done and all his income, standing orders and DDs are transferred convert the existing accounts to sole accounts for her.

She has sufficient savings to self fund for a good few years so it is highly unlikely that there will be any for your father to use any of his saving to support her if that is what he wished to do.