Transfer house and savings to son

Misha96

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057266#Comment_82057266

Please urge your friend to make an LPA for health and welfare. For terminally ill people, the process can be expediated. She cannot know just what her death will be like however well-informed she might be about her condition. An LPA can be invaluable in the very last days.

bobster2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057266#Comment_82057266

It is not correct that deprivation of assets only applies if someone applies for means tested benefits - it also applies if you need LA provided social care (not benefit payments) whether it's residential or in the home. But if there are £150k in savings in her account that can be spent on care - then not having access to the value of the house should not be an issue.

As I said previously - LPA can be very helpful for people who have mental capacity but have lost physical capacity (e.g. lack of mobility).

There is one other factor consider that I don't think has been mentioned - what if the son predeceases her? Unlikely but not impossible. Does he have a will? Who would own the house?

Cubicsrube

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057306#Comment_82057306

This is important. My father went overnight from apparently perfectly healthy to a terminal diagnosis with estimated 2 months to live. He lived a further 18 months, and there were many decisions and actions during that time for which his wife needed LPA - e.g. dealing with banks to execute things on his behalf when he could no longer leave the house; calling utilities; answering the phone and arranging medical appts, prescriptions (like morphine) etc when he could no longer hold a conversation.

Daniel54

I fully agree with the contributions concerning the importance of putting an LPA in place.In particular that an LPA can be exercised with the agreement of the donor, notwithstanding that they maintain mental capacity.

It is unclear if the son is already living in the house,or intends to move in after his mother passes.Whether or not CGT might become an issue depends on the answers to these two questions.

Mrs_Z

…"LPA will not be of any use as she has still got all her facilities and what will happen is that when the time comes she will go to hospital and die."

It's not always so straightforward and clear cut. There may become a time when her health deteriorates to a point where she no longer has the interest and the will to deal with her finances. Or she may have the capacity on some days and not on others. Even with the LPA in place, it can take few weeks to 'activate' it to get access to bank accounts. However, that said, if the son becomes a joint account holder to all accounts, I guess he would then have full access and ability to operate them so this would not be an issue. Still, it's a bit of an administrative task to change them into joint accounts.

On the health side, if the son does not have LPA and there's a disagreement about the level of care, he might find that not everything is discussed with him or he is not consulted on decisions. For example, if mother spends her final days in a nursing home and deteriorates - and the nursing home wants to send her to hospital - would he want that when he's fully aware that they can not fix her? Allow 'natural death' or not? Sorry to be so blunt, but these are the kind of situations that he may well face with.

Smudgeismydog

I’m another one urging you to get the LPA sorted, you might not need it, but the cost (and time) to go through Public Guardian, which is the alternative, is huge in comparison.

whatsthenews

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055590#Comment_82055590

Don't forget that care at home might

be an option,in which case the value of the house isn't included in FA.

Also the possibility that if it's for end of life care ,then she may qualify for NHS CHC funding ,either at home or in res care ,in which case there are no contributions.

Having said all of that,it doesn't seem wise to transfer her property into the son's name .

Joint names as joint tenants maybe, if she's just thinking about her son being able to sell without the need for probate?