CARE HOMES
Hi Beth
Its a long time since i have posted on the board although i have always read everyone's postings, ( I am ashamed to say the caring got the better of me and I cracked) My family are at the point where we are having to look at full time care homes for mum-in-law and also stepping into the dreaded minefield of financial assessments. our scenario is as follows, Mum owns her home jointly with my brother in law and therefore she is classed as having assests which must be used for her care home costs, we as a family (including my brother in law who owns half) have always said when the time came for us to place mum into care the house would be sold without hesitation and mums share would be secured in a bank account to pay the fees. But alas as we expected because Mum was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and therefore unable to validate any legal documents the whole process takes a daunting turn. We have now had to involve solicitors who will do the neccessary work required through the Court of Protection to enable us to sell the house and release the funds. As mums dementia "crept up on us" we never thought to put any relevant paperwork into place regarding the future of her assests. We are now told that we are in catch 22 because until we can fund a care home we cant request a place, we cant fund a care home until we sell the house, we cant sell the house until the Court of Protection says we can and the solicitor has advised us that it could be December before th C.O.P has it sorted out and it could then be 8-10 weeks (at least) before we can sell so i dont know what we will do if Mums dementia detiorates any worse that it already is. I dont know if it is any "easier" if your parent does not have "assets" or if their are different rules if the house is shared with a spouse (apparently if a spouse still has to live in the family home you have some rights regarding selling it) because it is my brother in law that is joint tenant with mum he has been told he has no right to stay in the family home. To say it is a minefield is an understatement, i have spent many many hours at various establishments like Social Services, CIB, Solicitors etc i have filled more forms in this last few weeks than i have ever filled in during my whole life and always come away more confused than the previous visit.
good luck
cathy