Hi,
I hope someone can give me advice. I'm afraid this is ongoing, so apologies for repeating myself. I was a carer for both parents until 2010 when my father passed away and looked after my mother who has severe Alzheimer's. I'm afraid because of the stress of dealing with the situation I took the drastic decision of taking my mother abroad (my father had close friends abroad who said they would help, but then didn't). After a couple of years my mother's conditioned worsened and the stress of the situation and dealing with living in a foreign country without support got on top of me so we moved back to the UK. However, in the meantime I had renovated/extensive repairs were carried out on my mother's house so we could rent it out, which paid for carers etc (though carers weren't always reliable, and my mother needed someone to sit with her at night so I wasn't able to work). I also put most of my savings into the trip.
Unfortunately when we returned, my mother had a high risk of pressure sores and was moved to a care home last May (the councils decision). A couple of months ago they said they had carried out a financial assessment (without input from me), and demanded payment of thousands of pounds. They also questioned my joint ownership of the house. They've also been asking for closed accounts over the last five years.
I hired a lawyer. I am aware of CRAG and TOLATA and of course will argue this. But the lawyer seems fairly negative, she seems to emphasise doing some kind of deal with them (because I used my mother's money for the repairs - so they could question my claim, I think). She's asking them to do a proper financial assessment.
I haven't been able to find work and she's saying that they could claim salary if I do to pay them, but I have a student loan that will need paying and no pension. It's a fairly dire situation, not helped by relentless demands for payment from the Council. so would very much appreciate any advice or experiences of those in a similar situation (I'm under 60).
I hope someone can give me advice. I'm afraid this is ongoing, so apologies for repeating myself. I was a carer for both parents until 2010 when my father passed away and looked after my mother who has severe Alzheimer's. I'm afraid because of the stress of dealing with the situation I took the drastic decision of taking my mother abroad (my father had close friends abroad who said they would help, but then didn't). After a couple of years my mother's conditioned worsened and the stress of the situation and dealing with living in a foreign country without support got on top of me so we moved back to the UK. However, in the meantime I had renovated/extensive repairs were carried out on my mother's house so we could rent it out, which paid for carers etc (though carers weren't always reliable, and my mother needed someone to sit with her at night so I wasn't able to work). I also put most of my savings into the trip.
Unfortunately when we returned, my mother had a high risk of pressure sores and was moved to a care home last May (the councils decision). A couple of months ago they said they had carried out a financial assessment (without input from me), and demanded payment of thousands of pounds. They also questioned my joint ownership of the house. They've also been asking for closed accounts over the last five years.
I hired a lawyer. I am aware of CRAG and TOLATA and of course will argue this. But the lawyer seems fairly negative, she seems to emphasise doing some kind of deal with them (because I used my mother's money for the repairs - so they could question my claim, I think). She's asking them to do a proper financial assessment.
I haven't been able to find work and she's saying that they could claim salary if I do to pay them, but I have a student loan that will need paying and no pension. It's a fairly dire situation, not helped by relentless demands for payment from the Council. so would very much appreciate any advice or experiences of those in a similar situation (I'm under 60).
