Care home - financial advice

vincent

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Jul 2008
Messages
5,258
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.
 
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.
Sorry to hear about your Dad. I worked in social care a few years ago and I don't think the situation has changed. My understanding is that as long as your Mum lives in their joint house, its value will not be taken into consideration. If her savings are classed as her own and not joint, they won't be taken into account, If you Dad has savings it will be anything above £23250 that will be taken into account. Speak to someone at your local Age UK or Age Concern for more up to date advice. Good luck mate.
 
House isn't included whilst Mum lives there.

Get rid of the savings mate.....quick. Buy a car or something.

Make sure Mum and Dad are claiming all benefits they can.......attendance allowance etc


 
First of all take advice.
When my mother in law had to go into a care home they tried to get us to underwrite any future costs if her money ran out in their contract!
Bang out of order.

Your parents will be expected to pay for his care because they assets are way beyond the means test limits but your mother will not have to sell her home once their savings run out. Local authorities can put a charge against the house so that when it is eventually sold the bill is paid.

Be prepared to be shocked at the amount it is going to cost a month. I am looking after a relative with dementia, we have power of attorney for and it will cost £9000 a month for her. Luckily she is minted and can afford it, but for the time being we manage her affairs paying for care in her home at £4500 a month.

As for power of attorney. If you have not done it get power of attorney over your mother NOW. It is too late once they lose capacity. At the moment your mum can make decisions for your dad. If she loses capacity without power of attorney you will not be able to make decisions, manage her money, sell the house if she has to go into care herself, etc..

Look into something called the 12 week disregard where depending on assets no fees are charged for the first 12 weeks. Care homes tend to “forget” to tell you about it.

We found the following invaluable.
www.independentage.org/advice
They guided us through the contract situation with the care home, telling us exactly what to say word for word. It worked. The clause was removed from the contract without an argument.

Make sure your mum is getting attendance allowance for him.
Once she gets that she can apply for a council tax disregard for dad’s mental incapacity so she gets the single person 25% discount.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear about this. Cant remember the ins and out but a similar thing happened to my in-laws a few years ago.

IIRC, your Mum owns half the house and therefore won't be expected to pay from "her half". There may be a charge put on the house so that your Dad effectively pays for his care from his half. Nothing that happens now or in the next few years would result in your Mum being forced to sell the house but when it is eventually sold, the council may take their cut.

You can get funding for an elderly person if they meeting certain criteria - e.g. double incontinent, danger to themselves or the public, psychotic etc. My father-in-law was in a bad way and it took three of us at a meeting with social services to convince them that he qualified for x number of categories.

You are correct, this is very stressful, and you will be best speaking to social services and a solicitor. I wish you and your family all the best with this.
 
Vincent. My sympathies, it’s heartbreaking when these situations present themselves. I went through the full care cost minefield with my mum four years ago.

I know the rules have changed recently but the approach by Social Services and the other Agencies probably hasn’t.

My strongest advice is get some proper help even if it means paying a bit for it. From day one when mum needed to go into a home I was under pressure to sign paperwork and make commitments on her cottage and other modest assets.

Be strong and question everything. Pm me if you want a chat.

Good luck
 
Sorry to hear that. I’m slightly behind you in that my mum is trying to care for my dad with Alz and dementia but it’s running her into the ground in the process. It’s a bloody terrible disease. Regarding the money it’s best to gift money or let family store it when you get older. As soon as you are diagnosed then any big movements of cash the council will be sniffing.

Someone mentioned attendance allowance it’s pathetic.
 
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!
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.