Hello

HomeAlone

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
21
0
This is my first post, although ive read through the site, in general, trying to gleem useful info, i live with my Mother, who has mixed vascular dementia, and have been her full time carer for 5 years, as you all know, the isolation felt as a carer, is huge, added to this mix, is my sexuality,i am lesbian, finding a forum for Lesbian and Gay carers, is great !:D..i dont feel so alone now, the question id like to ask is....mum is now getting very frail, with bouts of double incontinence, in a small house, she furniture walks,but for how long who knows, i need now for her to go into a nursing home, and i realise she will have to fund this herself, as she has pension, and savings, over the limit, can i arrange a home without SS involvement? she is aged 90, and to be honest i fear losing the home i have shared with her , most of my adult life ( its in her name ) i have enduring power of attorney, sorry if this message appears garbled, i have so much i want to ask
 

RustySaddle

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
188
0
Dorset
Hi sorry your feeling so alone. You sound so upset and big hig from me, it's a horrible time when you have to take that major decision. You need finacial advice about where you stand with the house. Try contacting the Citizens Advice Bereau or Age Concern have a person you can ring up on their website, I mailed them today to find out where I stood and they phoned back straight away. You have cared for her for 5 years which is a major achievment and you should be proud of yourself - well done, I'm struggling after 1 year. There always comes a time when 24 hours a day and 7 days a week is just too much. If your over 60 then I dont think they can use the house as an asset... Try CAB or Age Concern and see how you get on, if your having trouble I'll try and find out waht site I was on today to get the advice...
 

danny

Registered User
Sep 9, 2009
3,342
0
cornwall/real name is Angela
Hi Home alone,welcome to talking point.
The answer to your question is you do not need social services if mum is self funding.

I also would like to suggest that you post any queries you may have on the main forum,support for carers,purely because alot more people will read your posts and answer your questions.

By all means use this forum as well as you will meet mutual people.

For general questions the other forum would be better,more info etc.

Once again,welcome and I look forward to reading your posts.

Best wishes,Angela.
 

HomeAlone

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
21
0
Thankyou Danny for your kind words, and advice:) and thankyou Angela also...i will direct any further ramblings to the general boards, many thanks:)
 

Contrary Mary

Registered User
Jun 11, 2010
1,895
0
69
Greater London
Hello, I'm in much the same position as you as I live with my mother and it is her house. Hopefully the house would not be taken into account. There are the well known exceptions like being the spouse or over 60, but I believe there is also an exception for people like us who live there and provide significant amounts of care. Perhaps someone like the CAB could confirm this for you?

Best wishes
Mary
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,447
0
Kent
Hello HomeAlone

I suggest you phone the Alzheimers Society Helpline. If they don`t know the legal implications of living in your mother`s house, they will find someone who does.

If your mother will be self funding, I presume she owns rather than rents the house. As long as she owns the house and remains self funding, I cannot see any point in puuting you out of a home.

But I`m not a legal expert.

Please let us know how you get on.
 

Michele

Registered User
Oct 6, 2007
1,224
0
Hi Home Alone,

I am sorry but I can't really help any more than the others have. I just wanted to welcome you to TP.

You will find a lot of help, understanding and support on here.

Keep posting.

Love
Michele
xxx
 

Sandy

Registered User
Mar 23, 2005
6,847
0
Hi HomeAlone,

Welcome to Talking Point from me also.

If your mother is self-funding from savings, then the value of the home should not come into it.

However, if her savings fell below a certain limit and the Local Authority was approached to cover some of the costs, then they would look at the situation and decide if the value of the house was to be considered or not.

The 'bible' on these things is something called Charging for residential accommodation guide (CRAG) which is on the Department for Health website.

It is a 120=page PDF document and can be found here:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_115533.pdf

You'll need to look at Section 7 which talks about grounds for disregarding the property.

As a daughter, the property should be disregarded if you are:

a relative (as defined at 7.004) of the resident or member of the residents family (as defined at 7.007) who
- is aged 60 or over, or
- is a child of the resident aged under 18, or
- is incapacitated.

But the Local Authority does have the discretion to disregard the property based on other circumstances.

Discretion to disregard property
7.011 Where the LA considers it reasonable to do so, they can disregard the value of premises not covered in paragraphs 7.002 to 7.008 in which a third party lives. LAs will have to balance the use of this discretion with the need to ensure that residents with assets are not maintained at public expense. It may be reasonable, for example, to disregard a dwelling's value where it is the sole residence of someone who has given up their own home in order to care for the resident, or someone who is an elderly companion of the resident particularly if they have given up their own home. These are only examples and not exhaustive. Schedule 4 paragraph 18

7.012 As with issues of deprivation, LA’s should consider the intention behind the occupation of the premises by the third party (e.g. whether it was to care for the resident or whether it was in anticipation of avoiding the inclusion of the property in the financial assessment). It would only be reasonable to disregard the property in the first example. The timing of the move into the property by the third party and the prognosis of the resident at that time will also be relevant.

Example
A close friend gives up their own home to care for the resident at a time when residential care cannot be anticipated. This would be reasonable circumstances for the LA to give consideration to the exercise of discretion.

7.013 Where the LA has decided to disregard the value of a property, it is left to the LA to decide if and when to review that decision. It would be reasonable, for example, where the LA has been ignoring the value of a property because a long term carer was living there, for the LA to begin taking account of the value of the property when the carer dies or moves out.

It's good that you have EPA.

Has a SW been involved in your mother's case at all so far? It would be good to know that your role as your mother's carer for the past five years has been documented in as many ways as possible.

Take care,
 

HomeAlone

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
21
0
Hi HomeAlone,

Welcome to Talking Point from me also.

If your mother is self-funding from savings, then the value of the home should not come into it.

However, if her savings fell below a certain limit and the Local Authority was approached to cover some of the costs, then they would look at the situation and decide if the value of the house was to be considered or not.

The 'bible' on these things is something called Charging for residential accommodation guide (CRAG) which is on the Department for Health website.

It is a 120=page PDF document and can be found here:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_115533.pdf

You'll need to look at Section 7 which talks about grounds for disregarding the property.

As a daughter, the property should be disregarded if you are:



But the Local Authority does have the discretion to disregard the property based on other circumstances.



It's good that you have EPA.

Has a SW been involved in your mother's case at all so far? It would be good to know that your role as your mother's carer for the past five years has been documented in as many ways as possible.

Take care,

thankyou for all that info..i appreciate it very much, my role as carer, im sure is documented, as the psychiatrist who assessed mum, those 5 years ago,was fully aware of the impact her behaviours prior to diagnosis, had on me, and suggested at the time that i go off sick from work, which i did for 6 months, and appointed a cpn for mum, for about 1 year, tailing off gradually, and then basically left to look after mum, on my own since, with 6 monthly visits to memory clinic, and aricept ,the trouble is really that mum needs nursing home care, but i constantly put it off, due to fear ( mine really ) this disease has an immence effect on family/ carers , my own head goes around in circles, as im sure is common with most carers