Can anyone help please. Mum has AZ and once Dad died could no longer live alone. We considered her to be not bad enough for a care home and so we sold her house (I have LPA, mum no longer had capacity), and we bought a bungalow and hubby and I moved in with mum to care for her. We had previously sold our house and wanted to put some money into the new house but a solicitor told us we couldn’t do so because mum did not have the capacity to agree to this and as her I have LPA it couldn’t be done. So all mums money bought this house. We managed to look after her for three years before I was finally on my knees and could no longer cope with mum. She’s now in residential care and because hubby was 60 at the time, we were told that we could stay in the house which we have for almost 3 years now. My question is, what happens to the house when mum passes away? Will we have to move out and sell it to pay for her care as currently only her state and private pension go towards her care bill each month. I’ve always been a bit scared to ask the question but mum is 98 and of course I love her to bits and want her to go on for many more years but we’re clueless as to what is expected if anything, I mean could we sell it and buy something else as we may want to do so one day! Hope this makes sense! Thank you x
What happens to the house?
- Thread starter little shettie
- Start date
Hi @little shettie
Your mums bungalow has a mandatory disregard because there is a family member living in it who is over 60 years old.
This means that it is not considered at all, all the while you are both living in it. No-one will come asking for any money unless you move out of the property before she dies. When she does pass away the bungalow forms part of her estate and will be left according to her will. No-one from Social Services will asking for money for your mums care at that stage either.
So dont worry
xx
Your mums bungalow has a mandatory disregard because there is a family member living in it who is over 60 years old.
This means that it is not considered at all, all the while you are both living in it. No-one will come asking for any money unless you move out of the property before she dies. When she does pass away the bungalow forms part of her estate and will be left according to her will. No-one from Social Services will asking for money for your mums care at that stage either.
So dont worry
xx
hi @little shettie
when your mum moved into residential care the Local Authority would have carried out a financial assessment in order to organise the funding of her care fees ... I assume this resulted in the LA decision ie
when your mum moved into residential care the Local Authority would have carried out a financial assessment in order to organise the funding of her care fees ... I assume this resulted in the LA decision ie
so there should be some documentation somewhere ... if not, the LA will no doubt have a record and could provide a copy so you can check exactly what your position is
So can someone please tell me that if or when my hubby needs to go into care, obviously I will be living in our house which is in both our names. So they wont take money from it to pay his care fees BUT when I eventually pass away which hopefully wont be for at least another 10yrs I hope, will they take his care fees then , will children have to sell the house to pay his fees plus interest , I keep hearing different things on this subject. It's scary because I wouldn't know what they would be taking from my children's inheritance especially with the interest they will charge.
If you remain living in the house it would be disregarded in relation to your husband's care fees. His care fees would not be 'reclaimed' at any point in the future.
A deferred payment scheme can be entered into in cases where a property is deemed to be an asset which could be sold to pay care fees (not applicable in your case). If a deferred payment scheme was entered into the local authority would pay the care fees (plus charge interest) until such time the person passed away or the property was sold.
Bear in mind that an inheritance only applies on death so if you yourself needed to go into care at a later date there is no guarantee that your children would receive an inheritance. Hopefully they are aware of that as the days when children's inheritance of the family home was a certainty have long gone.
A deferred payment scheme can be entered into in cases where a property is deemed to be an asset which could be sold to pay care fees (not applicable in your case). If a deferred payment scheme was entered into the local authority would pay the care fees (plus charge interest) until such time the person passed away or the property was sold.
Bear in mind that an inheritance only applies on death so if you yourself needed to go into care at a later date there is no guarantee that your children would receive an inheritance. Hopefully they are aware of that as the days when children's inheritance of the family home was a certainty have long gone.
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Hi Louis7, so why would it not apply to me that they take money from house when I pass away I've read in so many different articles that that is what would happen, if you have own house the spouse can live in till the they die then government take money for Person whose been in care fees, I'm soon going to have to think of permanent care for hubby and I'm worried sick about finance side of it, we don't have savings of large amount enough to keep the house Bill's paid and a bit extra. I was convinced would his fees on a deferred payment where they take it later.
There is absolutely no way that they can claim your husband's care fees back from you.
There has been lot of inaccurate information published in the media recently about people being forced to sell their homes to pay for their partners care. It is rubbish - please do not believe everything you read.
A deferred payment does not apply to you and in any event can only be put in place if a legally binding signed contract is signed with the local authority.
If it helps to put your mind at rest please read the attached factsheet with regards paying for care which explains what I have already told you:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/legal-financial/who-pays-care
There has been lot of inaccurate information published in the media recently about people being forced to sell their homes to pay for their partners care. It is rubbish - please do not believe everything you read.
A deferred payment does not apply to you and in any event can only be put in place if a legally binding signed contract is signed with the local authority.
If it helps to put your mind at rest please read the attached factsheet with regards paying for care which explains what I have already told you:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/legal-financial/who-pays-care
The difference is if there is somone eligible for disregard living in the house or not.
If someone moves into a care home and the property they own is being lived in by a spouse, relative over 60 yrs old, or one or two other things that I cant remember, then the property is disregarded ie it is not considered part of their assets. This can change if the person living in it who makes it disregarded moves out or dies while the person with dementia is still living in the care home. In this case it would become part of their assets from that point and would need to be sold, but they wouldnt go back and ask for payment for the time when the property was being lived in. If the person with dementia dies while the property is being lived in it never becomes part of their assets for fees and no-one will come asking for payment.
A deferred payment is when the property is not disregarded ie there is no-one eligible living in it, but the family dont want to sell it. In this case a deferred payment scheme is set up and the fees (plus interest) are paid later once the person with dementia passes away.
hi @pevensey
do not worry .... no-one can ask you to sell the marital home to pay for your husband's care
if he dies before you, no LA can ask you to pay back fees
only if you die before him and the property becomes his alone can the LA see the property as his asset
look on your Local Authority's website
this is from Bournemouth council's website .... you are his PARTNER so the property is automatically disregarded completely:
do not worry .... no-one can ask you to sell the marital home to pay for your husband's care
if he dies before you, no LA can ask you to pay back fees
only if you die before him and the property becomes his alone can the LA see the property as his asset
look on your Local Authority's website
this is from Bournemouth council's website .... you are his PARTNER so the property is automatically disregarded completely:
I think @pevensey 's question is "what would happen if I die before my husband?" and I think it is possible that the house would then be sold to pay for his care home fees, if she had left the house to him. It all depends what her will says. If the house is joint-owned then it would pass to him automatically. Sorry, not sure of the answer to this question.
Thankyou everybody, you have put my mind at rest, I've really been losing sleep over this not knowing what was what. Although it will probably not be yet, but it's getting more difficult for me
Sorry not sure what happend there it posted my reply before I had finished. As I was saying. It hopefully wont be yet I will need to find care for hubby but it's getting very difficult, tiring and stressful cari g for hubby, I'm scared I'm going to make myself I'll, I'm 78 next month and not in great health myself. But he is getting worse by the week and can do nothing in the house to help me now, canhardly walk so he can't get out., unfortunately I think in the next 6 months I think I'll be looking for permanent care. But I feel so much better after reading your information about our house. Obviously it's too late to change my will now and leave it to my daughter ??
Can I make that arrangement now,
"Tenants in common " or would it be too late now re my hubby's condition, is it a straight forward thing to do Normaleila.
Thankyou for your reply.
It's nice to see somebody falling in to the disregard criteria,I just need to find somebody over 60 or create a child asap to feel secure in my home of 46 years haha,my son is 16 but is unable to be counted as I don't receive the child benefit,besides he will be too old for the disregard in the future as I'm fine caring for mum at the moment,it does make the job of caring harder when you're depressed about your own situation and perhaps being made homeless in the future.
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You can make the change by serving hubby a severance of tenancy notice
https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common
Hi witts 1973,yes it's really unsettling and scary worrying about the future and house and carehome fees, I was getting paranoid and couldn't switch off at night time. But all the brilliant people on here have put my mind at rest I think, all these people who are in the same boat with their own worries and there always there to solve someone elses worries. I hope you get your mind in a better place soon witts1973, maybe when your having to go down this road things could have changed "for the better" I keep reading about the law changing in 2020 about care home fees, not sure what it's about though.
Hi thanks,yes with the Brexit situation taking up all of their time, you never know if anything will be announced,I'm sure they are quite pleased that it has distracted from anything else that people in the country are worrying about being debated.
I'm still trying to get my head around 'tenants in common' as I'd not heard of it tilI I read about it on the forum. However, as @pevensy has mooted the possibility of her husband needing a CH in the next few months, would that not look like deprivation of assets? I no longer live in the UK so I apologise if I've totally misunderstood this....don't want to spread alarm and despondency!
Hi charlie10 ,yes, I was thinking the same thing, I've probably left it too late now to change to tenants in common, i wish i had done it few yrs ago when somebody told me about, but didnt think I would need it then.i looked it up and it seems quite easy to do but I've not gone into it properly.. as as you say, I've left it too late, LA would soon suss it out
