Inheritance and care home fees

OP is about to become very wealthy, and is looking for a way to avoid paying their way in life.
I guess that's just how the rich get to stay rich isn't it 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is why I wonder if the OP is confused.

If his wife has an illness that is not dementia, and her care is being funded now, why would his savings be relevant?

To be fair, in a welfare state surely the state indirectly through everyone's tax paid (including OP) should fund this?

@Hateam My understanding was that if someone needs medical care it's possibly funded by the NHS. Not the family.

Have you had proper advice on this?

I've never heard of anyone having to declare savings for a spouse with a medical condition, who would need care for 30+ years.

Also, if you suffer from cancer or another physical illness you get funded care through nhs. But if you have dementia you have to self fund. That’s definitely a rubbish system.

I hope he's having a great time. Our residents loved their trips out and holidays.

It's about time steps were taken to stop people playing the system. And if the OP's wife does inherit money it should be used to pay for her care. The OP just wants the taxpayer to foot the bill.

Any grandchildren who can inherit? It is frustrating but that’s the law. You’re on dodgy grounds coercing an old lady to change her will for you to benefit. It’s joint money anyway as you’re married

I don't think you understand about leaving money in a will. If her will says she is leaving everything to her daughter then her daughter will get what is left after her mother has paid for her care up to her death. There is no deprivation of assets as no money will go to the daughter or any beneficiary until the mother dies.

Sorry but I think if we can we should meet our own care costs. We have to pay our way through adult life. Why should that stop just because we’re old?

So true, my Dad is in a home and even has a car!! (albeit against our advice). They don’t all just sit around watching tv all day.

This is true. A lump sum could even be invested to provide a small income before it’s needed for the care costs.

Without commenting on the morality of all this, 100% get your MIL to speak to a solicitor, if this is what she wants to avoid. There are options such as changing her will & trusts.

It's about timing.

The 7 year rule may apply here as it does to giving away assets to avoid inheritance tax.

But I'm not sure so the OP needs legal advice.

The council won’t take the money off your wife all at once - they will
bill her presumably monthly her share of the care costs. If she wants to spend her money on day trips etc she can still do that as it’s not deliberate deprivation. If she hasn’t got capacity to make these decisions the council will appoint someone to ensure she doesn’t suffer financial abuse

OH I thought this was about the OP and his wife particularly when you referred to him being greedy.

I’m not saying it’s not possible for MiL to make decisions about who she wills the money to. I’m saying that the LA will treat it as deprivation of assets. If MiL makes her will now and leaves everything to her daughter, once she runs out of money the LA will refuse to fund her care because as far as they are concerned she had a reasonable expectation of needing care when she made the will. She can’t escape that because she’s already in care !!

I think you missed my point....I'm not saying they shouldn't, I'm just trying to understand why people see care homes as vastly different to nhs care. There's obviously a sense that we should pay for one out of our own pocket but not the other.

My fathers money went on his care, so will my MIL's. Do I wish that I'd inherited it? Do I wish DH could inherit? Yep...absolutely. But it's there money and it needs to go on their care.

Unless people have experienced care homes and funding, they are unaware of the circumstances.

The real issue here is that there is no joined-up care policy between the NHS and Social Services.

It's an issue that all governments have failed to sort out.

There is a divide between needing care due to frailty and ageing, and needing to be in hospital for medical reasons.

Some people have their care and nursing funded by the state, others don't and it's not always clear where the difference lies.

Where someone is in a care home due to old age, they self fund.

But other people who have severe and long term medical conditions (not related to age) can get their care paid for.

The last government was going to rule (October 25) that there was an £86K limit on care home contributions. Whether this will be honoured now is unclear.

@Hateam I hope you have had proper legal advice to make sure that your wife doesn't qualify at all for free/ subsidised care regardless of your savings.

This isn't about her giving the money away while she is receiving care, it is about changing her will so she can decide who her money will go to when she is dead. She can leave it to her DD and be happy it will pay for her care for a few years, she can leave it to her SIL, her GC or the RSPCA. Nothing to do with deprivation of assets as she will be dead.

YABU.But I do sympathise with you.

Do you have any DC? Could your MIL change her will so that the grandchildren can inherit some money ? Could she transfer money to grandchildren now ?