Is home considered an asset in this case?

Emmia

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

Emmia said:

Does your mum have a will? Drafted to give the companion a life interest in terms of living in the property which would then go to her children if the companion moved out, or died.

But if the companion is essentially a lodger, rather than a life partner then they'd be expected to move out if your mum needed care, and doesn't have the liquid assets to pay for it without selling the house.

The nature of the relationship matters.

The Will leaves everything to her 2 children.

Sounds like they're really a lodger and would need to move out if the house needs to be sold to pay for care.

Grumpy_chap

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The children are happy for the companion to remain in the house. Would DofA apply even though there is currently no care needs?

I would say so, as the DoA is not about immediate care needs but about intent to evade care costs.  That seems to be evidenced by the timing of the issue:

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

Mum currently has NO social care needs but is becoming frail, hence the hypothetical question.

IF mum ended up in Res Care in the future, would her property be taken into account?

The whole reason for thinking about this now is obviously in the context of possible care needs.

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The Will leaves everything to her 2 children.

It is one thing entirely the children being accepting of the "companion" having a life interest to remain in the house.
Quite different if half the house is gifted to the "companion" as that would have the effect of the eventual size of the children's inheritance being halved.
Even if there were a trust thing now that the "companion" would eventually leave the half house back to the Mum's children, and Will to match, there is nothing to stop the "companion" from changing their Will after Mum has passed.  The "companion" might meet a 30 yo super-model blond to enjoy their later years with and leave everything to that new individual.

Pollycat

Should claiming Pension Credit as a single person be a concern for the OP's friend's Mum?

sheramber

Grumpy_chap said:

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The children are happy for the companion to remain in the house. Would DofA apply even though there is currently no care needs?

I would say so, as the DoA is not about immediate care needs but about intent to evade care costs.  That seems to be evidenced by the timing of the issue:

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

Mum currently has NO social care needs but is becoming frail, hence the hypothetical question.

IF mum ended up in Res Care in the future, would her property be taken into account?

The whole reason for thinking about this now is obviously in the context of possible care needs.

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The Will leaves everything to her 2 children.

It is one thing entirely the children being accepting of the "companion" having a life interest to remain in the house.
Quite different if half the house is gifted to the "companion" as that would have the effect of the eventual size of the children's inheritance being halved.
Even if there were a trust thing now that the "companion" would eventually leave the half house back to the Mum's children, and Will to match, there is nothing to stop the "companion" from changing their Will after Mum has passed.  The "companion" might meet a 30 yo super-model blond to enjoy their later years with and leave everything to that new individual.

If companion stays on in house who meets the cost of  repairs/ maintenance?

And if companion owned half of the house and needed care the house would be included in his financial assessment so there may be no half  to inherit. 

If siblings owned the house but didn’t live in it there would be possible Capital Gains Tax to pay when it was eventually sold. 

SnowWhiterThanWhite

Pollycat said:

Should claiming Pension Credit as a single person be a concern for the OP's friend's Mum?

Definitely something to consider

SnowWhiterThanWhite

sheramber said:

Grumpy_chap said:

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The children are happy for the companion to remain in the house. Would DofA apply even though there is currently no care needs?

I would say so, as the DoA is not about immediate care needs but about intent to evade care costs.  That seems to be evidenced by the timing of the issue:

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

Mum currently has NO social care needs but is becoming frail, hence the hypothetical question.

IF mum ended up in Res Care in the future, would her property be taken into account?

The whole reason for thinking about this now is obviously in the context of possible care needs.

SnowWhiterThanWhite said:

The Will leaves everything to her 2 children.

It is one thing entirely the children being accepting of the "companion" having a life interest to remain in the house.
Quite different if half the house is gifted to the "companion" as that would have the effect of the eventual size of the children's inheritance being halved.
Even if there were a trust thing now that the "companion" would eventually leave the half house back to the Mum's children, and Will to match, there is nothing to stop the "companion" from changing their Will after Mum has passed.  The "companion" might meet a 30 yo super-model blond to enjoy their later years with and leave everything to that new individual.

If companion stays on in house who meets the cost of  repairs/ maintenance?

And if companion owned half of the house and needed care the house would be included in his financial assessment so there may be no half  to inherit. 

If siblings owned the house but didn’t live in it there would be possible Capital Gains Tax to pay when it was eventually sold. 

Thanks, the children aren't concerned about inheritance,  it's more around allowing the companion to remain in the property. 
I've advised them to get legal advice as it's a bit of a minefield plus, as has been mentioned,  their relationship needs to be made clear, one way or the other.
Thanks all