Giving money gifts with LPA

poseidon1

I_Love_comps said:

I am a deputy for my mother,  who has dementia and is in a nursing home.  
With being a deputy. I am not allowed to give gifts anymore.All her money has to be used on her care .

Now that your fil's house has sold he will become self funding. Which means your fil will pay a lot more money for his care. 
My mother' s self funding monthly fees were £8.000 a month.
Also you will need to provide toiletries and personal care money for your FIL.
My mom has now used all of her house sale money and is under her councils savings threshold.  Her monthly bill is part paid by the council and some from my mom. This is a great deal less than self funding. My mom has nursing home for 8 years . 

Cripes at £8k monthly ( and presumably rising), I am beginning to understand why more and more families are using IPDI trusts to preserve part of the family home from charge.

RAS

We were paying nearly half that 20 years, for specialist care, but not nursing care.

RAS

lindseychm said:

RAS said:

Eer no.

If FIL was in the habit of buying the grandchildren a reasonably priced present for Christmas and/or their birthday, then continuing that would be acceptable. Otherwise, maybe a more token gift.

Likewise, even with dementia he might delight, perhaps briefly, in a gift from the grandchildren. Even framed handprints or artworks.

And just checking, was FIL married to MIL when she died? Any chance that her will included an IPDI trust?

He was a generous man and loves his grandchildren who are all teenagers now. His wife died 10 years ago so doubt there was any kind of trust there

So has anyone actually checked if she had a will?

Mands

poseidon1 said:

I_Love_comps said:

I am a deputy for my mother,  who has dementia and is in a nursing home.  
With being a deputy. I am not allowed to give gifts anymore.All her money has to be used on her care .

Now that your fil's house has sold he will become self funding. Which means your fil will pay a lot more money for his care. 
My mother' s self funding monthly fees were £8.000 a month.
Also you will need to provide toiletries and personal care money for your FIL.
My mom has now used all of her house sale money and is under her councils savings threshold.  Her monthly bill is part paid by the council and some from my mom. This is a great deal less than self funding. My mom has nursing home for 8 years . 

Cripes at £8k monthly ( and presumably rising), I am beginning to understand why more and more families are using IPDI trusts to preserve part of the family home from charge.

I have friends where his mother, who was widowed, had to go into a care/nursing home. For a couple of years prior to that her son had sourced and employed a part-time housekeeper/cook/cleaner via an advert in The Lady. Clearly there was no shortage of funds. 

When it came time for a care home it was agreed she should have anything she wanted so they picked a place with a library, an onsite hairdresser, bridge on Wednesday afternoons etc etc. This was three or four years ago and the annual cost was going to be over 100k per year. 

bobster2

lindseychm said:

 I realise any large amounts would be seen as avoiding care home fees but would maybe £10-£15k between 4 grandchildren be a reasonable amount, or could they take more?

See..

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-gifts/giving-gifts-web-version

The general rule for deputies and attorneys about giving gifts is simple: apart from some exceptions, the law says you must not make gifts from the person’s estate. If an attorney or deputy wants to make a gift that falls outside the restrictions in the law or in the LPA or EPA or deputyship order, they must apply to the Court of Protection for approval.

Importantly take note...

 A best interests decision is not the same as asking what the person would decide if they had capacity.