Treatment of ISA assets for social care funding

phguk

My MIL has recently entered a care home. She and her husband have various accounts in joint & single names (talking modest amounts here), but they've always regarded these as joint assets (even when practically, certain accounts such as ISAs can only be registered to a single person). 

So far in the financial assessment, the council is currently treating her couple of ISA accounts as solely her assets - which will prolong self-funding (to the financial detriment of my FIL).
My questions are: 

1. Do councils have any discretion to view ISAs as joint assets in a financial assessment ?
2. Is there anything we can do to persuade them otherwise ? 

Thanks in advance 

KxMx

If any accounts are in her name then yes of course they will be considered as her sole assets. 

I'm afraid saying they both considered them joint won't matter to the Council. 

8dayweek

I thought there was some discretion to count certain assets as joint - but it works both ways.

Essentially you can’t say MIL’s savings are all joint with FIL, but everything FIL has is solely his own. 

If asking them to exercise discretion - is half of the combined assets more than FIL’s sole assets (otherwise, it’s pointless). 

HillStreetBlues

As your MiL is 100% the legal owner of the money in her sole name you would need show that she isn't the 100% beneficial owner of that money.  Where did the money come from that is her sole accounts?

Keep_pedalling

As has already been said if all the assets were considered joint then so would his ISAs so assuming, their ISAs were of equal value there would be nothing to be gained if it was possible but it is not.

They really should also now split any joint savings they have otherwise things will get messy as time goes by, and it would be all to easy for some of his savings being used for her care costs.