Need advice about my mums money

andybodoyd

Any advice welcome please. My dad recently died leaving my mum who has vascular dementia and whose health (and memory) is deteriating and will at some point probably need resedential/nursing home care. We have activated a previously set up Enduring Power of Attorney and not to be too blunt don't want to see all there hard saved money end up as nursing fees for mum. What can you do/should I see a financial adviser or accoutant. We think she has approximatelely £250,000 in assetts although we are still looking into this as mum can't remember all the accounts and saving bonds she has. Thanks in advance.

Mips

Why don't you take your Mum home and look after her until she dies.

There won't be any fees then

bluebell13

Can I ask what you think their hard-earned money should be used for?

pinkshoes

If she's so bad that she needs a power of attorney, then it's probably going to be difficult to sign the assets over to you. Even if they're signed over to you as a "gift", she'd still have to live for 7 years for you to avoid paying inheritance tax!

You need to speak to a solicitor that specialises in this sort of thing.

bryanb

bluebell13 wrote: »

Can I ask what you think their hard-earned money should be used for?

I'd guess it would make quite a nice inheritance.

Oldernotwiser

You should use your mother's money to provide the best possible care for her as presumably she and your father saved this to provide for their old age. Doing anything else is akin to theft.

andybodoyd

Ok, I am aware that my question sounded like I was wanting to 'stash the cash' but that really wasn't my intention so don't shoot me yet. Of coarse we are providing as much support as possible for my mum to enjoy the rest of her life and future provision of any care she requires is my priority. I am quite happy for all her assetts to be used for future provision of her care if required.But she is anxious that most of her money will be swallowed up in fees as she and my dad always intended to leave it to there grandchildren. I am well aware of my responsibilities with power of attorney and have no intentions of frittering away her money. Indeed it feels very strange sorting out her finances as she has always done it herself. I am just trying to do as she wishes obviously within the law!!

floss2

At the end of the day, unless you are able to guarantee that your mum lives for 7 more years after signing any assets over to anyone else, you and your mum will have to face the fact that their savings and possibly their home may have to be used for care fees, purely because of the way the care funding system is set up.

I beleive there is an amount that can be gifted each year £3k I think (but pls check on this & whether in total or to any one person)

I think you should ask for your mum's solicitor to come & visit her at home (given her health, I would think this to be a reasonable request). Then before the visit prepare a list of points & questions that your mum & you would like answered.

Another point to remember is that good dementia care is what matters and is available, whether it be NHS or privately funded. You need to look for a home which will continue to care for your mum when her personal funds are near the limit (which i think is £16k? something else for your list!) and not ask for her to move elsewhere.

bunty109

It is possible to buy annuities to cover care home costs: a company will look at the health, age etc of a person and you then you buy a policy with them which gives you X amount of money for the rest of their life to pay for care home fees. This allows anything else that isn't used for the annuity to be invested elsewhere.

I looked into it for my grandmother when she was taken into a home. Sadly she died this year after a year in a home (she was 97 and had had a good innings, as she would have said). We hadn't taken out the annuity for her after weighing up her age and deteriorating health, but it was one consideration.

Also, I mentioned on another thread about this....my grandmother's condition sadly became such that she qualified for free care. I'm really not sure how it worked and whether it was her health authority alone that did it. However, her dementia became classed as category A and her costs were covered. She paid for her first few months' care but once she was diagnosed all her care was paid for (not the extras, of course).

Hope that might be of some help to you.

andybodoyd

Thanks Floss and Bunty. The advice is much appreciated. Its difficult to know what to do for the best, we knew my mum's memory was bad but I think my dad must of covered for her alot when he was alive (he was always the well one). We are just trying to what's best for her in a difficult situation.Thanks again.

margaretclare

Also, I mentioned on another thread about this....my grandmother's condition sadly became such that she qualified for free care. I'm really not sure how it worked and whether it was her health authority alone that did it. However, her dementia became classed as category A and her costs were covered. She paid for her first few months' care but once she was diagnosed all her care was paid for (not the extras, of course).

How this works is that if the person's illness - dementia - is classed as an illness under the terms of the NHS, then it's treated as any other illness i.e. free care, just as everyone expects to get when they fall ill from anything whether it's a mental illness, breaking your leg, whatever. When the person has to pay is when they are classed as needing 'care' and not medical/nursing attention. There have been cases in law e.g. Coghlan - do a little googling because there's a lot of information out there.

There's also a lot of argument which goes on: are these illnesses which mainly affect older people just a part of normal ageing and therefore the person only needs a bit of 'care' e.g. with meals, daily activities like bathing and dressing, or is it an illness affecting the brain which entitles the person to nursing/medical care under the NHS?

We have a friend at church whose husband suffered from vascular dementia caused by a succession of mini-strokes - transient ischaemic attacks - in which a little bit of brain tissue is lost every time. At first he was attending a local psychiatric ward for the elderly as a day-stay patient, then he became a resident but could come home weekends (his wife used to bring him to church, I'll never forget seeing him for the last time, he looked straight through me, completely blank, didn't know anyone). They used to try to jog his memory and hearing those old hymns at church was a help to him. As time went on he didn't even do that. Then they moved him to a new purpose-built EMI (elderly mentally ill) unit - we took her there once because she didn't drive and this place was about half an hour's walk from the nearest bus stop (it would be easier now because a new Asda has been built near it and there IS a bus service! But too late for her). He died there from a chest infection. He wasn't that old either, in his mid-60s when he died, and all this had taken 4 or 5 years. But at no stage was there ever any suggestion of his care being paid for - having been in church work all their lives they hadn't much money anyway - it all came via the NHS.