Power of Attorney but no idea how I go about anything

[sparky023]

We got PoA for financial and property signed and sealed in the summer, thankfully, just before our dad took a real dip with his short term memory. He's now in hospital and we are not sure when and where he will be discharged to. The ward have spoken about Dad needing a care provision to get well in (he's currently still in a state of Delirium) until social services have put a care package together so Dad can go home again.

My Mum has been in care since 2011 and has full funding. I'm not sure how this is assessed. She has FTD. Is this the reason? Do any people with Vascular or Alzheimer's get full funded care?

I've been told that the first two weeks of respite (if needed) will be funded, but no idea what happens from there. We don't want Mum and Dads house to be swallowed up by care home fees. Is there anything I can do to protect it?

 

[Katrine]

We don't want Mum and Dads house to be swallowed up by care home fees. Is there anything I can do to protect it?

Hi Sparky. It sounds as if perhaps your Dad may later return home with a suitable care package, and in that case of course you would not want to sell the house. I think the temporary respite will be a very good opportunity for your Dad to be assessed in a less hospital-like environment, to see if he could return to his own home.

If it turns out that your Dad would be better to stay in residential care, he will be fortunate in having more choice if he is a self-funder. If the house will provide your Mum and Dad with the money to have the choice of good quality residential care then IMO that's the best way to use their assets.

None of us likes to see our parents' homes being sold to pay for care. Professional care is expensive. My MIL's house has been sold in order to access her capital assets. My widowed Mum is spending all her and my Dad's lifetime of savings on her care, and we are in the process of raising a mortgage on her house so that she can go on living there with paid live-in carers.

My main worry if for our own future when there will be nothing left to pay for our care, should we need it. That's not being greedy about 'inheritance', it's just an acknowledgement that the current model of care is not sustainable. Once this generation has eroded their assets, the next generation will only have their own earned assets, often depleted by the circumstances of having to provide care at home for their parents and other relatives.

I would imagine that similar thoughts are behind your wish to preserve your parents' home. However, unless family members wish to rent the house, or to purchase it, ultimately the house is only bricks and mortar, which may be worth more to your Dad as money than as a building. Another option might be to rent out the house to someone else, provided that this brings in sufficient income to pay your Dad's care costs. If the returns from renting are relatively low, then it is a lot of hassle to become a landlord as well as everything else you need to do for your parents.

 

[Beate]

There are only two scenarios for someone getting fully funded care: having less than £14,250 of assets (less than £23,250 and they will fund partly) or getting CHC awarded which is very difficult to get and would only be worth pursuing if the person with dementia had severe behavioural problems alongside severe confusion etc.

The house was probably disregarded when calculating your Mum's assets as your Dad's still living in it. Were he to go into a care home too, I can see the LA recalculating. Provided the house is owned jointly, half of it would be classed as belonging to each.