Care home - financial advice

[ganganvince]

If the property is transferred into an Asset Protection Trust and is done so for a reason other than avoiding care home costs and is done over 6 months before one someone needs to enter into care the local authority will not look to factor the property into consideration. I recommend this arrangement to a number of my elderly clients. Some balk at the cost (£3,495), others due their diligence and realise that the cost equates to on average 1 months care home costs. On a separate note to the OP, sorry to hear the news.

We used a discretionary trust allowing my mum full access after dad died but the assets now belong to the trust as you say pricey to set up for most. But got it cheaper as my sister is a solicitor.

 

[ysmsa]

Does anyone have any experience when it comes to financial advice for a parent going into a care home? my Dad has Dementia and Alzheimer's and it is coming to the stage where my Mum will need to look at him going into care. My Mum has MS so it is getting harder for her to look after him. The financial side of this can be very stressful and also a little overwhelming. I understand I need to look into this in depth and perhaps get some legal advice. But I thought I would see if anyone on here is able to give me some initial feedback as perhaps other people have gone through this before. My Mum has some modest savings; between £30k - £40k and they own their own home. If care home costs are between 3k-4k a month, would the authorities expect my Mum to finance the full costs straight away? if so, the savings they have would be gone in a year or so. Thereafter, would my Mum be expected to sell part of her house to finance any costs? My Dad's income is about £1400 per month so this would contribute to any costs.

Dad will be financially assessed on his own assets, house will be disregarded as long as Mum lives there.
If you ask for LA funding then Dad will have to make a contribution from his Income (Pensions), basically most of his state pension with disregards for certain benefit awards. Private pension may be assessed differently and Mum may be entitled to some of it.
Attendance Allowance will stop for Dad unless he "self funds" his placement.
From what you say Mum may be entitled to AA anyway because of her own health condition. Easy to apply from DWP.
Your LA website will contain a whole load of information on this subject including assessment calculator and advice.

 

[CatMan]

Non-related to the OP but something I just thought of reading the posts on here.

Let's say you have to put a parent into a
care home and it's going to cost 4k a month which would then be taken out of the inheritance on the house that is due to go the the child.
Do people who earn say 2k a month, quit their job to look after the parent themselves in order to protect their future inheritance?

I gave up work to care for my parents. Initially I had an independent annex built on my house and had planned to give them a week's respite each month. My mum, who cared for my dad, passed 5 years since (during the Thursday Night Derby in 2017) and I quickly made the decision to move Dad across from Stockport to Lincoln and sell his house later once I'd got POA in place. It's bloody hard work as he is invalid and has dementia but his physical health has improved due to the care I've provided. I'm not certain that given foresight I would have committed to this but once you are in you are in. I've had to gradually use the funds from the house sale as you cannot live for nothing! How long it goes on for I have no idea but it's currently over 3 years solid since I have had a single day off (no exaggeration at all) and that's both a physical and mental killer. Incredibly we all just had Covid and it was my dad that had least in the way of symptoms. I keep cracking the joke that I'll have to give him details of my funeral soon as it feels like even money whether he'll outlive me!

 

[abu13]

And they can go back seven years as a rule of thumb or, technically, as far as they want if they think there’s something suspicious.

I have a friend who's father wanted to "get rid" of some of his savings after his wife died, I believe he was advised to start taking around £200 a week out in cash from the bank that could then be handed out to his children to save for him. He was told to claim that following his wife's death he had started to drink and have a flutter at the bookies. He had a review of his finances with the bank and when challenged about his increased spending put on record the drinking and gambling.

I'm not saying this is the right thing to do but it does make the tracking of money harder.

 

[Brooklands Blue]

We used a discretionary trust allowing my mum full access after dad died but the assets now belong to the trust as you say pricey to set up for most. But got it cheaper as my sister is a solicitor.

Good to hear. The Will writer's I pass my clients over to are always really busy as due to the risk (and the price of their professional indemnity) most solicitors give this area of advice as miss.

 

[Scottyboi]

The figures quoted for care are sickening, especially when you think of how much the staff get paid.

Those who have paid this is the past do you get a breakdown?

My dad was a carer for years and was on like a tenner an hour, use to take them on days out and have them singing city songs on the mini bus haha.

 

[ob]

Going through this with my partner's mum. She's been in hospital for 6 week's after a fall. Got Parkinson's and dementia so never be home. Tested positive for covid last week. Moved into care home on Saturday. We've started of power of attorney while she was capable of making decision. Estimated time frame at moment is 20 weeks when we rang last Friday. Ours been about 13 weeks. We also changed her father's will so if he goes first half estate goes to the 3 children rather than mum's care. It's been a nightmare over the last 3 months. My partner not been able to visit since boxing day and her father who's 87 has spent his first night's alone. Lived with his parents until wedding night and with wife for over 40 years. We are being quoted almost £2k a week for mum's care. Hope you get sorted OP

 

[Mr Fraser]

Excellent advice from Dennis Law re power of attorney for your Mum if you haven't already done it. It's dead easy to do, you don't need a solicitor, just separate forms for care and finance. Another good piece of advice I was given for those of us of a certain age and own our own house in a joint tenancy with their partner. Talk to a solicitor about transferring the house into a "Tenants in Common" agreement if you have kids or someone else you want to leave the house to. That way when one of you dies their half of the house can be left to the kids while the surviving partner remains in the house. If the surviving partner ends up in care the council can't put a charge on the value of half the house which has been transferred to the kids. Half a cake is better than none!

Get LPOA done ASAP for health and finance. You can do paper work yourself. Doctor may or not charge to witness. Court costs are £80 for each one. If or when capacity lost this allows smooth transition. Without POA you would probably need Court of Protection. Expensive and difficult. Plus another poster has said get some proper finance guidance even if you have to pay. I was a bit slow at that. Was free as adviser does stuff for sister and she has more money than

 

[Tuearts right boot]

I have a friend who's father wanted to "get rid" of some of his savings after his wife died, I believe he was advised to start taking around £200 a week out in cash from the bank that could then be handed out to his children to save for him. He was told to claim that following his wife's death he had started to drink and have a flutter at the bookies. He had a review of his finances with the bank and when challenged about his increased spending put on record the drinking and gambling.

I'm not saying this is the right thing to do but it does make the tracking of money harder.

We did something similar when my mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia. She had a decent pension plus state pension but her house was part of her deceased husbands childrens estate. Took advice from her doctor, her solicitor and bank manager and basically rinsed her accounts ( savings and stocks and shares ) and liberated cash as gifts and ' shopping ', we had to do it before she progressed further with the desease so as to not look suspicious to the council. I hated doing it as I felt we were taking from mum and should she go into care, any costs for care home...I explained to her at every stage what we were doing, even though I knew it wasn't sinking in but as her son and having POA it was all I could do. Her answer to it was that it would be yours and your sisters anyway so deal with it now.....Care homes for dementia patients are a bit scarce round here so we had the full package and care allowance for her, I didn't want her to go into care if I could avoid it. Previously we had lived in Spain and I was flying back every 7 - 10 days for shopping and generally sorting things out until we moved to within 150 yds away of her. She passed away in the comfort of her own home and her ashes, together with my step dads, were sprinkled in the brook next to her house.
A truly horrible desease

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Lasting Power of Attorney is £41 each if the donor’s income is less than £12000 a year or they are on certain benefits.

Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney

How to make a lasting power of attorney (LPA): starting an application online, choosing an attorney, certifying a copy, changing an LPA.

www.gov.uk

in my opinion if you have any assets make sure you have both a will and power o& attorney for care and finance set up.
You don’t always lose capacity due to old age or dementia only.