Mum's in a care home, I've got her jewellery, can I put on my contents insurance?

MyRealNameToo

Sea_Shell said:

IF the jewellery was stolen, and a cash settlement was made from any insurance in place...would the bequest under the will then fail, as those items no longer exist??

Would you HAVE to have replicas made, to enable those replacement items to be passed to the beneficiaries, despite the new articles no longer having the same attachment to the deceased?

How specific is the will to a description of the items, or does it just state "jewellery to X"

Interesting questions raised.

My instinct is to also agree with Spendless in that these items remain within her estate, and may need to be sold if cash runs dry.        


Also, if they were stolen and NOT insured, would the beneficiaries have any right to complain that the items had not been "secured" for them.   AIUI, no beneficiary has a right to ANYTHING, other than what the deceased actually OWNED at the time of their death. 

So what would YOU lose if they WERE stolen?    Nothing.     

On the basis that she is in care I doubt she's spending large amounts on champagne etc so her cash running dry is fairly unlikely. Personal effects are not considered when it comes to paying for the care itself. 

Wills can only distribute what the deceased owned at the time of their death. It's not uncommon for people to fail to update their wills and so it may contain a bequest of an item that was lost, sold, stolen, gifted etc before the persons passing. In such a scenario the beneficiary just doesnt get the Rolex or whatever it was, there is no cash sum equivalent nor a requirement for the estate to purchase a replacement to give to the beneficiary - even less for them to buy a "replica" (which is normally short hand for fake these days)

gwynlas

If the jewellery is of high value, documented and photographed you could approach an insurance broker but they might also suggest that it be held in a safety deposit box rather than in your home

MyRealNameToo

gwynlas said:

If the jewellery is of high value, documented and photographed you could approach an insurance broker but they might also suggest that it be held in a safety deposit box rather than in your home

It would need to be outside of the home if it's not going to be on the main home policy. Mass market consumer insurance only asks what the total value of everything in your home is, you dont get to not include things that are there and insured elsewhere as it still changes the risk profile for the whole property. 

Unless you were advocating cancelling the current Home and buying a better Home policy? An advisory broker is almost certainly only going to be interested in HNW kind of levels of policy so it would need to be a very serious amount of jewellery to push you into that space. Else you can go on confused.com and about half the price you'll are from non-advisory brokers. 

Sea_Shell

Just another thought...

Could it be argued that it IS in Mum's best interests to sell the jewellery for cash, which can be banked?

What use is the jewellery to her?   Does she like seeing/touching it, does it hold memories?

Even though personal effects wouldn't be assessed for care (if it came to it), might you be able to treat her to something else with the money, over and above her standard care costs?

Spendless

Keep_pedalling said:

Spendless said:

I *think* jewellery of significant value forms part of your Mum's assets and may need  to be sold to pay for her care, assumming she lives long enough to have run out of money to pay her own care.

I didnt think personal effects were exempt from this but happy to be corrected. If it’s a wedding/engagement ring I should imagine she could keep them though. I think this because when the financial assessment was done on my Nan entering a care home, I was present and we were asked about Nan's jewellery (nothing of significance). 

Personal effects are not included in financial assessments for care costs, so that is not an issue.

As attorney for their mother the OP needs to act in the best interest of their mother not in the interests of any beneficiaries of her will. Any costs associated with insuring these effects should be paid for out of her mother’s assets not her own so whether it is in her mother’s best interests to do that is going to depend on what other assets she has and if they will cover the cost of her care for the remainder of her life.

If for example the house sold for £500k and her life expectancy is 1 - 2 years then they could reasonably gift the jewellery to the beneficiary without affecting the ability in funding her care. If on the other hand it only sold for £100k in would be in her best interests to sell it to help fund care for as long as possible. 

Who has she appointed as executors of her will?

Thanks for info. We were never made aware that personal effects arent included when a financial assessment was done for my Nan.

I wonder what defines  'personal effects' guessing you are expecting to sell the rolls royce but what about the diamond and pearl tiara you bought at auction  from.the Duchess of Windsors collection? 

I always would edge on the side of caution with average lifespans when entering a care home and how long money will.last.  Nan lived for 8 years in one dying shortly before her 99th birthday. Husbands Nan at least 6.5 years dying at 82.5. 

noideapleasehelp

Hi Wonderful Forumites

Thank you so much for responses. You've given me valuable information and raised some issues I hadn't thought of.

What I did was contact Mum's banks to see if they have a "safety deposit box" and I discovered one of them still has this facility.

So I have now deposited her jewellery with them, and am paying an annual fee for her jewellery to be kept there.

I've notified OPG
I've notified solicitors who hold her will
I've notified executors of the copy will I hold
I've notified other siblings who hold LPA

It's such a relief it's no longer on my property but still kept safe and I've renewed my own house insurance without having this burden (so it's cheaper).

And for those who wondered, why would a Mum not leave her jewellery to her daughter?  One of my siblings was influencing her with that decision, which whilst odd, is okay by me.

Mum has dementia for past 10 years, so asking her about that decision isn't something possible.

I'm just happy that, because I saw all these lovely bits of jewellery, will go to the next generation down, and my lovely nieces will hopefully have an opportunity to wear them in their life-time.

Thank you to all who responded.

All the best to you.