Parents may lose home to pay for care fees - help!

pirieg01

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

In short my parents have no money, neither work as father has had strokes, had to give up work instantly and is now needing full time care by my mum. Their pension crashed some years ago. They have 4 more years left on their mortgage and it is killing them having to pay it.
My mum won't accept financial help from us kids (3 of us) as she is hell bent on having a house one day to leave to us that she paid for herself. (A very proud but stubborn woman she is!)
I would like to take over the mortgage and pay it for her as my priority is that they decrease the amount of stress in their lives and don't lose their beloved home.
It is very likely my father will need residential care sometime soon. Oh, also my other is disabled and also getting older and one day will also need residential care. I worry she is killing herself trying to pay for this house yet one day the government will get their hands on it as a means to paying for their residential care.
Here's my confusion - is there a way that I can pay their mortgage, have the house in my name (tho they will still have say over who lives in it etc) yet they won't lose their house to the government for care fees? I don't believe I am trying to fiddle things as they are the 2 most honest people ever, have never had much money but been hard grafters all their lives.
Can anyone help?
Thank you.

epz_2

so basicly your asking me as a tax payer to help you get a free house and to pay the massive bill for your parents care, good luck.

beingjdc

You could buy it off them, and sign a long-term tenancy agreement, but if you paid below the going rate, the authorities would view it as fraud, and if you paid the going rate, they'd have the money to pay the care bills with, so I can't see a way.

Someone has to pay for it!

elvis_girl

epz wrote: »

so basicly your asking me as a tax payer to help you get a free house and to pay the massive bill for your parents care, good luck.

I suspect this smart ar5e is best ignored!
All i know is that the house would need to be signed over 7 years previous to avoid any care home fees, but I'm sure there will be other more knowledgable people along shortly.
if the mortgage only has 4 more years to run perhaps something could be worked out along those lines

merlinthehappypig

Give Help the Aged a call.

They have a free help-line and offer excellent, though obviously only general, advice. They deal with this sort of issue all the time and were excellent when we called them when my mother in law first had her stroke and needed care.

They have a section on their website dedicated to care fees. The situation that you describe will have come up many times, I'm sure.

As for the moralising from others, don't judge until you have been in that situation yourself - it's not as cut and dried as you think.

TBeckett100

how old are your folks? maybe a lifetime mortgage charge on the house, i.e. a lump sum or regular income against the value of the house. Prudential and Norwich Union offer these, could be a little help in repaying the mortage debt

gymbo

I actually work in this field and as far as my department are concerned if a house is gifted to a family before Social Services are involved (usually about 6-12 months before they enter care) then we would not take the property into account. The 7 year rule is to do with tax. If your dad went into Res care and left mum at home then the full value of the property would have to be ignored while she was still living there. Hope this helps - good luck

margaretclare

You've posted the same question on the Pensions board and have had replies there. Why not have a look?

Margaret

Uncle_Rico

pirieg01 wrote: »

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

In short my parents have no money, neither work as father has had strokes, had to give up work instantly and is now needing full time care by my mum. Their pension crashed some years ago. They have 4 more years left on their mortgage and it is killing them having to pay it.
My mum won't accept financial help from us kids (3 of us) as she is hell bent on having a house one day to leave to us that she paid for herself. (A very proud but stubborn woman she is!)
I would like to take over the mortgage and pay it for her as my priority is that they decrease the amount of stress in their lives and don't lose their beloved home.
It is very likely my father will need residential care sometime soon. Oh, also my other is disabled and also getting older and one day will also need residential care. I worry she is killing herself trying to pay for this house yet one day the government will get their hands on it as a means to paying for their residential care.
Here's my confusion - is there a way that I can pay their mortgage, have the house in my name (tho they will still have say over who lives in it etc) yet they won't lose their house to the government for care fees? I don't believe I am trying to fiddle things as they are the 2 most honest people ever, have never had much money but been hard grafters all their lives.
Can anyone help?
Thank you.

So your folks risk losing their house as your mum is too stuborn to accept help from her children, but hopes to leave the house to her children? :huh:

margaretclare

To the OP - why not look at where you posted on the Pensions board asking the identical question - there are some constructive suggestions there.

To save you the trouble, here's the thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=714235

Margaret