Dad recently diagnosed - help for Mum

[NeilB]

Hi,

my Dad was diagnosed recently and my Mum is worried that as my Dads condition worsens and if it gets to a stage where he has to go into care that the house will be sold from under her and she wont have anywhere to live and their joint finances will be taken to pay for Dads care. Can people share similar experiences of this so i can give my Mum some reassurances about her future.

Thanks

Neil

 

[Beate]

That will not happen. Only the financial assets of the person needing care will ever be assessed (joint accounts count half), and a property with a spouse living in it will always be disregarded - that is the law.

Now might be a good time though to separate finances, especially if your Mum has more coming in than your Dad.

 

[karaokePete]

Hello @NeilB, welcome to the forum. I hope you find this a friendly and supportive place.
It's a great idea to prepare for the worst but hope for the best - I do that myself.

You will find lots of information, including details on the question you have raised, in the AS Publication list that you can find with this link https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

This links will take you to a specific factsheet that deals with your question
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/sites...assessment_for_care_in_support_in_england.pdf

If you want to look for local support services in your area you can do a post code check by following this link https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you

Otherwise, do take a good look around the site as there is a lot of information and wisdom here. If you have any specific questions just feel free to start your own thread in this sub-forum https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/forums/i-care-for-a-person-with-dementia.70/

 

[marionq]

This will not happen. When someone is assessed for care only the affected persons assets are considered. If they own a half share of the house each then they cannot take his share while your Mum lives in it. If she outlives him then the house is disregarded. If she dies first then his half will go towards paying for his care. She may want to leave her half share to you in her will to avoid losing everything if she does die first and her asset is then passed to her husband.

If they have only a joint account then this is a good time for her to open an account in her own name too and have her pensions etc paid into that. Otherwise the joint account will be considered to be half his and an asset. She needs to start looking at her income and wealth separately from her husband. If his savings are over £23,500 he will have to pay something towards his care. His state pension and half of any occupational pension will be used to pay for care. Your mother will keep the other half of the occupational pension.

You should start claiming Attendance Allowance and a reduction in council tax. If you need help, and most of us do, to fill in the form then CAB or Age UK will help.

Please ask any questions you think of as someone on here will know the answer.

 

[Beate]

It's not technically a council tax reduction but an exemption and is called the SMI disregard for the severely mentally impaired. It's usually only granted once an Attendance Allowance application has been successful. It means that your father would not be counted for council tax purposes, so if it's only your mother living with him, this would trigger the single person discount of 25% of the whole bill.

 

[NeilB]

Thanks for the quick replies it is really greatly appreciated - at the moment we are trying to process the diagnosis and there is a lot of information to take on board.

Without jumping the gun what would happen if my Dad whilst still of good mind at present signed over his half of the house over to my Mum?

 

[Beate]

That would be classed deprivation of assets, especially after a diagnosis, as it's clear it's done with the sole intention of saving care home fees. Councils takes a dim view of that, and if it happened that your Mum died first, they could treat him as still possessing half of the property and thus making him pay for his care.

 

[nitram]

As long as your Mum stays in the property it will be disregarded in any financial assessment by the LA.

To prevent your Mum's share becoming available to the LA if she predeceases your Dad the joint ownership should be tenants in common, this enables your Mum to bequeath her share to A N Other than your Dad.

If it not owned this way it can easily be changed
https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

This is not deprivation of assets, your Dad's share in the property does not change.

 

[Shedrech]

hi @NeilB a warm welcome from me too
these pages of the main AS site may help set your mum's mind at rest
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/legal-financial/who-pays-care

 

[yorkie46]

Hi everyone
I've just watershed this discussion regarding deprivation of assets.
My husband was diagnosed in October. We have two current accounts, each in joint names but one with his name first and one with mine. These were originally separate accounts which we made government years ago for ease of access in case one of us was ill. My pensions are paid in to the one which was my account and vice versa. If I now change mine to my name only I would be concerned that this could be co considered deprivation of assets. On the other hand I guess if I changed them both into individual names, is reverting them to what they were originally that would probably be ok. Our individual pension income is pretty similar. I'd be pleased to hear others opinions on this.

 

[yorkie46]

Sorry, just read my last post, for watershed read gatecrashed!!!

 

[yorkie46]

Must learn to read what I've written or what the computer thinks I've written. For government read joint many!!

 

[Beate]

Haha, you could have just edited the original post.

I don't think anyone would think anything untoward if you changed both accounts back, but in case you haven't got POA yet, it might be prudent to wait until that's sorted.

 

[yorkie46]

We have got POA. We did them a good few years ago and they are both registered though I haven't had to actually use them yet, my husband hasn't quite reached the stage where I need to take full control. I have to explain things carefully to him so he understands or at least does in the moment but I can't do things behind his back. He has started to have difficulty with his pin sometimes so I can see the time isn't far away.
I'm not really sure that I need to change the accounts because I tend to have less in mine than he does in his and I believe that if he needs care they will probably only look at income in relation to.these accounts. Neither account carries a lot of money in it.
My slightly bigger concern is the pcp we have on the car. It has two years to run and my husband pays for it but the car is in my name. I'm wondering if it would be sensible to pay this off early, depending on how much it will cost, because if I leave it I could end up.having to make the final payment out of my savings rather than joint savings. I feel everything is in the timing and of course with dementia nobody can tell you how quickly things will progress.