Care home top up fres

josijo69

My Mum passed away on 2/7 and was always adamant she owed top-up fees to the care home my Dad was in for approx 18 months (he died in February 2017).  Would this debt now be passed on to her estate to be paid?  How would we find out about it?

Marcon

josijo69 said:

My Mum passed away on 2/7 and was always adamant she owed top-up fees to the care home my Dad was in for approx 18 months (he died in February 2017).  Would this debt now be passed on to her estate to be paid?  How would we find out about it?

Asking the care home?

The debt would only be passed on to your mum's estate if she had been the party responsible for paying the care home fees - otherwise any shortfall would have been for your dad's estate to settle.

Brie

sorry for your loss.

you could contact the care home your dad was in to ask.  But frankly if they haven't got their accounts in good enough order that they haven't asked for it in 7 years I'd say they've missed the boat.  

First off it should have come from your dad's estate.  second it sounds like it would be statute barred given that it's over 6 years old.  

Of course it's entirely possible that if the care home fees were being paid by the local council they may have added anything owing to mom's council tax but they would have, at a minimum, written to her to explain a change to her tax rate.  Then again knowing councils they may have written to your dad at the care home, and quite possibly after his death.  (yes they do have their moments)  When MiL died we were told within days that there was money owing but no details.  I chased them a couple of times but it took about 3 months before they came back with the info and were paid.  

RAS

josijo69 said:

My Mum passed away on 2/7 and was always adamant she owed top-up fees to the care home my Dad was in for approx 18 months (he died in February 2017).  Would this debt now be passed on to her estate to be paid?  How would we find out about it?

You might be advised to take advice on the enforceability of any debt. Creditors generally have 6 years in which to request payment and take action to enforce it.

If the home didn't do that within the time scale, they may no longer be able to do anything about it.

Keep_pedalling

Marcon said:

josijo69 said:

My Mum passed away on 2/7 and was always adamant she owed top-up fees to the care home my Dad was in for approx 18 months (he died in February 2017).  Would this debt now be passed on to her estate to be paid?  How would we find out about it?

Asking the care home?

The debt would only be passed on to your mum's estate if she had been the party responsible for paying the care home fees - otherwise any shortfall would have been for your dad's estate to settle.

Care home top up fees can only be paid by a third party not the resident themselves so it would never form part of his estate. I think it highly unlikely she owed any as no top-up service would be provided if they were not getting the money for them.