Buying a property for my retired mother with dementia

[Deleted User]

My mother has dementia and I have power of attorney for both her finance and health. She currently lives in a rented house with my brother, who is her official carer. Her pension covers all the rent, bills, and expenses. She doesn't own any property, but finally has the funds to do so (sadly only recently due to her own, very elderly mother passing away).

I am worried that if her health deteriorates further, and she needs to go into a home, all of her savings above £23,500 will go on her healthcare. Also my brother, who is not in the best shape himself and cannot work, will become homeless as I would not be allowed, as the attorney, to keep paying the rent and bills if my mother moved out.

I have been advised by a financial adviser to buy a property for my mother as soon as possible, however this would need to be her primary residence and I am concerned that moving her might make her condition worse. If I were to buy a property for my mother would it be possible to also include both mine and my bother's names on the deeds? If so, would this protect the house from being sold in the event that my mother needed to go into a home? If all our names were on the deeds would it still need to be my mother's primary residence? Are there any other options that I could explore to safeguard my mother's saving, and keep a roof over my brother's head?

Keep_pedalling

Sorry but that is way beyond your authority as her attorney. Your responsibility is to look after her best interests, not preserve an inheritance for you and your brother.

She is far better off being able to self fund her care than having to rely on the LA. 

Have you claimed attendant allowance for her? If not you should do so.

Marcon

[Deleted User] said:

My mother has dementia and I have power of attorney for both her finance and health. She currently lives in a rented house with my brother, who is her official carer. Her pension covers all the rent, bills, and expenses. She doesn't own any property, but finally has the funds to do so (sadly only recently due to her own, very elderly mother passing away).

I am worried that if her health deteriorates further, and she needs to go into a home, all of her savings above £23,500 will go on her healthcare. Also my brother, who is not in the best shape himself and cannot work, will become homeless as I would not be allowed, as the attorney, to keep paying the rent and bills if my mother moved out.

I have been advised by a financial adviser to buy a property for my mother as soon as possible, however this would need to be her primary residence and I am concerned that moving her might make her condition worse. If I were to buy a property for my mother would it be possible to also include both mine and my bother's names on the deeds? If so, would this protect the house from being sold in the event that my mother needed to go into a home? If all our names were on the deeds would it still need to be my mother's primary residence? Are there any other options that I could explore to safeguard my mother's saving, and keep a roof over my brother's head?

What a truly horrid position to be in - I am sorry to read of it.

As attorney, your role is to act solely in the best interests of your mother, and various things in your post might fall foul of that requirement, however well intentioned and sensible they might appear to many people. 

There is also the matter of taking an action which, if deemed to be designed to increase your mother's reliance on public funds (delilberate deprivation of assets), is always going to be doomed to failure. 

I don't think you can rely on this sort of forum to give you accurate and fully informed advice on which you can safely rely, not least because there is not nearly enough information to do so (and nobody is insured to advise you!). There are a range of issues at play here and you need proper advice from a legal professional, particularly in terms of acting correctly as attorney for your mother, to establish what your options are.

I do hope you can find a way which works for all of you. 

Fermion

Yes - you should buy the property with your Mother and Brother as Tenants in Common 50:50 - that avoids any issues - plus the fact that your brother will be living in the property

Your Mother or your family  might have missed a trick when her own elderly mother passed away. Your family should have considered making a deed of variation for part of her inheritance in favour of your brother or yourself - (for info deed of variations for Will beneficiaries are not considered deprivation of assets as the assets were not owned)

Keep_pedalling

Fermion said:

Yes - you should buy the property with your Mother and Brother as Tenants in Common 50:50 - that avoids any issues - plus the fact that your brother will be living in the property

Your Mother or your family  might have missed a trick when her own elderly mother passed away. Your family should have considered making a deed of variation for part of her inheritance in favour of your brother or yourself - (for info deed of variations for Will beneficiaries are not considered deprivation of assets as the assets were not owned)

An attorney cannot give a donor’s money away like that, sorry but this is terrible advice and you clearly have no understanding of what an attorney is allowed to do, 

Marcon

Fermion said:

Yes - you should buy the property with your Mother and Brother as Tenants in Common 50:50 - that avoids any issues - plus the fact that your brother will be living in the property

Not as an attorney using her mother's money for the purchase.

Fermion said:

Your Mother or your family  might have missed a trick when her own elderly mother passed away. Your family should have considered making a deed of variation for part of her inheritance in favour of your brother or yourself - (for info deed of variations for Will beneficiaries are not considered deprivation of assets as the assets were not owned)

Wrong 'info' I'm afraid. If a local authority considers that a Deed of Variation was made with the deliberate intention of helping to avoid care home fees, they will disregard the Deed and look at the original bequest. Do a bit of googling if you aren't sure of the point,

xylophone

See

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf

in particular P7.

Your mother's inheritance must be used for her benefit.  Unless your brother is in a position to put his own funds towards a property purchase (so that the property  would be held as tenants in common (with official agreement signed as to the proportions of ownership), any property purchased would need to be in her name only.

Pollycat

This is not really a 'Pensions, annuities, retirement planning' question.

[Deleted User] said:

I am worried that if her health deteriorates further, and she needs to go into a home, all of her savings above £23,500 will go on her healthcare. Also my brother, who is not in the best shape himself and cannot work, will become homeless as I would not be allowed, as the attorney, to keep paying the rent and bills if my mother moved out.

This is something often mentioned on the families board.

Why shouldn't her savings go on her healthcare?
Doesn't she deserve the best healthcare she can afford instead of a home that fits within council funding?

I'm not sure where this fits with POA but it may be deemed as deprivation of assets (as well as outside your responsibility as her attorney) should she need to go into a care home.
It may be worth reading this:
Deprivation of Assets | Age UK

And £23,500 is the figure where someone who has above that amount pays for their own care in full.
Below that figure, you part fund your care with the LA until savings are less than £14,250 (also from the same link):
 

Your capital	What you will have to pay
Over £23,250	You must pay full fees (known as being self-funding).
Between £14,250 and £23,250	You contribute from income included in the means test, such as pensions, plus an assumed, or ‘tariff’ income based on your capital between £14,250 and £23,250. The council pay the remaining cost of your care.
Less than £14,250	You no longer pay a ‘tariff’ income based on your capital, but you must continue paying from income included in the means test. The council pay the remaining cost of your care.

elsien

Fermion said:

Yes - you should buy the property with your Mother and Brother as Tenants in Common 50:50 - that avoids any issues - plus the fact that your brother will be living in the property

Your Mother or your family  might have missed a trick when her own elderly mother passed away. Your family should have considered making a deed of variation for part of her inheritance in favour of your brother or yourself - (for info deed of variations for Will beneficiaries are not considered deprivation of assets as the assets were not owned)

Please ignore this advice, you have an obligation to act in your mother’s best interests. Giving away half a house from a mentally incapable person purely to preserve an inheritance is clearly not acting in her best interests and could lead to safeguarding concerns and an investigation of your power of attorney by the OPG.
if you and your brother have enough money to pay a third each, that is a slightly different situation.

But I’m really not seeing the benefit to your mother of buying a house at this stage of her life. She has not been a property owner before. As you say, a move to a unfamiliar environment is likely to unsettle her so and it will cost her more in terms of maintenance et cetera. If it wasn’t for preserving the money, would you be doing this? If the answer is no, then it’s not the right thing to do for your mum. 

And most importantly, if she does need care in the future, money gives her choices. Don’t underestimate that. She could buy more care in to support your brother to allow her to stay at home longer, for example. 

elsien

As things stand, if your mum has to go into care, your brother can stay in the rental property and claim benefits to pay for it or if it’s too big for him he can downsize to a smaller rental property. Homelessness not an issue. 

Marcon

elsien said:

As things stand, if your mum has to go into care, your brother can stay in the rental property and claim benefits to pay for it or if it’s too big for him he can downsize to a smaller rental property. Homelessness not an issue. 

Very unlikely the local housing allowance would cover the costs, especially as he wouldn't be assessed as needing anything as big. This might make helpful (although rather depressing) reading for him: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-12983087/Retired-nurse-rent-rise-housing-benefit.html