So your Dad gave you £10500 towards a car for his use . Quite honestly this would provide your Dad with about 4months care ...depending on where you live. Does he live with you at present?
Deprivation of assets - what to do?
- Thread starter Jim52
- Start date
That is true, and all the while he self-funding it wont be an issue, so if he remains self-funding all during his life, there wont be a problem. The problem will come if/when his assets dip below the £24,000 mark and £10,500 is pretty much the difference between some one self-funding and someone needing total LA funding
I sadly don't have much use for a car currently so buying it out slowly isn't really an option, I just worry that long term it may be best just to sell the car now and I'll deal with the deprecation so he wont lose out and there's no issues with care in the future.
What you have said is all very sensible and inline with what I'm thinking, thank you for the advice.
I suppose it depends on what proportion £14,500 is of his savings. If it is half, it may look a bit suspect, but if it is a small amount of the whole, it would be acceptable. I think if you can prove the paper trail of the £10,500 coming from your Dad's bank to yours and then to finance the car, that would help clarify things. Make sure you keep the relevant paperwork with your Dad's financial papers.
In a way, this is academic as you don't know how far down the line your Dad may need care and if he gets a lot of use of the car in the mean time, that should go in your favour. Perhaps keep details of your trips to prove this.
In a way, this is academic as you don't know how far down the line your Dad may need care and if he gets a lot of use of the car in the mean time, that should go in your favour. Perhaps keep details of your trips to prove this.
Now that I have become aware of the situation with regards to possible future funding I completely agree. He lives in his own house and the family keep tabs on him.
He would be able to self fund for a few years I'd expect.
I am not an expert in such things but I really would not worry for now. It sounds like the amount spent on the car was a fairly small percentage of your fathers savings and it might be years before the LA need to fund care - if ever. At that time, if there is an issue about deprivation of funds, then I would have thought the paperwork you have would show that it was bought to help keep your dad at home. The date on the banker draft and the purchase date would correspond. Is it any different to buying a stairlift or fitting a downstairs bathroom in a house to facilitate care? Such things do not always add value to a house so costs are not always recouped.
We have just registered the LPA with my mums bank so we can keep an eye on her funds and step in immediately if necessary. She is not aware that we have done this as she still has her own card and full access. We discovered two totally unnecessary scam direct debits which we have cancelled!
We have just registered the LPA with my mums bank so we can keep an eye on her funds and step in immediately if necessary. She is not aware that we have done this as she still has her own card and full access. We discovered two totally unnecessary scam direct debits which we have cancelled!
He did not put any money in my bank, I withdrew £3700 from my bank and had already paid the deposit for him of £300 on my card, he then deposited the £3700 into his account and had a bankers draft made-up with the garage name on it which was handed to the dealer.
I agree it's all academic currently we're just trying to make sure there is no issues in the future if he needs the help. We all regret deeply not looking into the care system and how it works sooner so this could have been avoided, its been a real eye opener.
Thanks for your advice.
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@Jim52 I personally don't see a problem with what you have done, in some respects you have helped your dad buy the car, so you have technically 'gifted' him some money towards the purchase, plus you are paying for the insurance. Probably the only issue is that the car is owned by you and not your dad, but you can admit that this was a genuine mistake and maybe something the garage did rather than you requested. To back yourself up, just keep a record of the purchase trail for any future questions if they arise.
However, in terms of assets, you can still say that the car is an asset of your dads and was purchased for his benefit. The vehicle can be sold at any point in the future and whatever funds you get from the sale could be paid into your dad's account, as long as you show no benefit from the sale there should not be a problem.
If I was you, just to prove the vehicle is being used for the benefit of your dad, I would keep a record of all the mileage/journeys etc you take and all receipts for fuel/maintenance etc.
I wouldn't worry.
However, in terms of assets, you can still say that the car is an asset of your dads and was purchased for his benefit. The vehicle can be sold at any point in the future and whatever funds you get from the sale could be paid into your dad's account, as long as you show no benefit from the sale there should not be a problem.
If I was you, just to prove the vehicle is being used for the benefit of your dad, I would keep a record of all the mileage/journeys etc you take and all receipts for fuel/maintenance etc.
I wouldn't worry.
This would indeed solve the problem, but I dont know how to do it. Fortunately none of his dads money ever went into his account, so if the car ownership could be transferred to his dad, all would straight. I dont know enough about legal things, but one thing comes to mind - could he sell the car to his dad for 1p and make sure the paperwork is all there?
Thanks for the reply this sounds very sensible also. Since getting the PoA's setup for my dad in October I have been keeping a record of purchases being made and journeys even though we're technically not using the powers yet I felt it was prudent to do so. I have all receipts for everything and have been logging all journeys in the car plus writing the current mileage on the back of each petrol receipt.
I'm a bit confused
Sounds good. This might be a ridiculous idea but perhaps if you explained the situation to the garage they might be able to reissue the purchase documents with your Dad's name on them.
I didn't actually think about that, does anyone know if this is possible and meet the legal requirements?
Google seems to say if it's fairly easy to transfer ownership, lots of hits for it e.g.
https://www.cornerpark.co.uk/blog/guidelines-on-how-to-transfer-ownership-of-your-vehicle-to-s/#
This seems to be actually explaining how to change who is the registered keeper. If you sell your car then it will usually have a new registered keeper, but the registered keeper is not necessarily the same as the owner.
When my son started to drive my old car he became the registered keeper and the form was sent off to change this as he was the one who was driving it, but it was still owned by me.
When my son started to drive my old car he became the registered keeper and the form was sent off to change this as he was the one who was driving it, but it was still owned by me.
Thanks for the advice however I'm not sure this process would work as it seems it would just replace the V5 and change the keeper.
Exactly what I thought.
The "Owner" of the car is the person/company who's name is on the invoice from the vehicle seller/dealer.
The "Registered Keeper" is the person/company named on the V5 (Log-book)
These need not be the same. The classic example is when you buy a car on hire-purchase, the finance company owns the car,(till you finish paying them) but all the parking/speeding tickets come to you as registered keeper. Even if someone else is the driver!
It states on the front of the V5 that the registered keeper is not necessarily the legal owner of the car.
For your purposes it is the name on the invoice that is important, that is who owns the car.
Bod
The "Registered Keeper" is the person/company named on the V5 (Log-book)
These need not be the same. The classic example is when you buy a car on hire-purchase, the finance company owns the car,(till you finish paying them) but all the parking/speeding tickets come to you as registered keeper. Even if someone else is the driver!
It states on the front of the V5 that the registered keeper is not necessarily the legal owner of the car.
For your purposes it is the name on the invoice that is important, that is who owns the car.
Bod
I would leave everything how it is, as long as you can prove you do not gain anything from the car and when it is no longer required for your dad’s use and sold all proceeds go to your dad, then all should be fine.
Before I realised there was anything wrong with my dad. He bought himself a brand new car, which was totally unsuitable for him, I think he paid about £12k for it. After having it about 6 months and bumping/scraping it numerous times trying to park it into his drive as it was a tight squeeze and not the easiest thing to manoeuvre into, he went back to the garage and ‘swapped’ it for a smaller and cheaper car, which was an ex demo.
I only found out a year or so later when I started to manage his finances that he actually paid the garage another £3.5K to do this so called swap. I believe he was totally ripped off but nothing I could do about it. So what I’m trying to say, is that what you did helping and supporting your dad through the process of buying the car was all done in his best interests, unfortunately a couple of genuine mistakes were made, more by the garage than you, but don’t worry about it. I just wish my dad had consulted me before he did what he did so I could have helped.
Before I realised there was anything wrong with my dad. He bought himself a brand new car, which was totally unsuitable for him, I think he paid about £12k for it. After having it about 6 months and bumping/scraping it numerous times trying to park it into his drive as it was a tight squeeze and not the easiest thing to manoeuvre into, he went back to the garage and ‘swapped’ it for a smaller and cheaper car, which was an ex demo.
I only found out a year or so later when I started to manage his finances that he actually paid the garage another £3.5K to do this so called swap. I believe he was totally ripped off but nothing I could do about it. So what I’m trying to say, is that what you did helping and supporting your dad through the process of buying the car was all done in his best interests, unfortunately a couple of genuine mistakes were made, more by the garage than you, but don’t worry about it. I just wish my dad had consulted me before he did what he did so I could have helped.
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I think you are worrying too much about this. Too many if's and bit's that may or may not happen.
