Husband in hospital long term - advice

[arvia2023]

My husband will be in hospital long term. At this moment we don’t have a timescale or if he will end up in long term care.

I need to get financials in order. Can anyone advise where do I start? Who needs to know that he is in hospital (other than work)?

I would like to try and cut back on some payments and an obvious one would be car insurance. He owns the car and is main driver but I am a named driver. Will the car insurance company communicate with me and let me take him off? Will I still be insured? and that’s before I start worrying about how I can keep a house over our head!

any advice /personal experiences would be massively appreciated.

Does he have the ability to speak to them if you phone and put him on, he just has to ask them to speak to you?
Can you get POA for finance and health?

Does he have capacity? If so I would get a POA set up asap.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having to think about all this at what is obviously a very worrying time for you.

Does he have any insurance policies that would cover this kind of thing (critical illness cover etc)?

If your DH doesn’t have capacity now, you may need to obtain Deputyship through the Court of Protection. Do you have a joint bank account?
Regarding the car insurance, if you ring them up and explain the situation they will be able to advise you. Very few people remain in hospital long term - unless they are on a ventilator. He may well be transferred to a long term care facility as soon as his medical needs are managed,
Make sure you are claiming any benefits you’re entitled to! Was he employed? If so, his pension provider may well have some sort of family benefits for someone in his situation. I know mine pays out a lump sum for long term ill health. Perhaps speak to his employer about this.

Does he have critical illness cover on a life insurance policy and would this be covered?

Will he be getting any sick pay from work, do they have any employee sickness insurance policies on behalf of staff?

Re the insurance, taking him off may change the price, it might be better/cheaper to keep him on.

Taking your DH off the car insurance is not likely to reduce the premium. Mine and DH’s both reduced when we added each other.

Does he have any kind of health insurance, even the hospital fund type ones? They may pay out an amount per night for the hospital stay for a few weeks. It won’t be much but it might help.

Check whether the hospital has a scheme for allowing you to park for free as he’s a long term patient. The ward might not know/care but PALS, the cashier desk, or one of the charity offices will know.

Does he have a pension? He may be able to retire early on health grounds.

I’m sorry you find yourself in this position.

Sorry to hear your husband is not well op.

If you're a named driver and cancel your husbands insurance yours will end as-well. Sometimes it's cheaper to just keep the insurance as is and stay as a named driver so you do not have to pay the take out premium again.

Has your husband got critical cover, maybe through work? Also, I think there are things you can do with creditors to reduce payments temporarily (depending on which ones).

I am afraid there’s no clear answer.

Insuring the car as you only, may not make it cheaper. And you may find that as you come across each step, is similar. Quite complicated more straightforward forward.

We might be able to give advice if you can give more detail. Are you both working, are you in touch with his employer, have young kids or older kids or any kids? Does he have capacity? Do you have a mortgage joint bank accounts? And so on.

Do you have a list of things you think need doing? We might be able to give specific advice and help prioritise. And suggest things you might have missed.

I am sorry you are having a difficult time.

That’s true in the short term, but longer term the OP will need to manage the policy, also, if he is currently the registered main driver this is no longer the case. So I would perhaps let the policy run until renewal and then take out a policy in her own name then and let this one lapse.

I second previous advice, if he has capacity sort out P of A's

You urgently need power of atourney OP. You can't manage anything financial on his behalf without it.

Once you have it sart by looking at all your basics to see where you can make savings.

Credit cards - can you balance transfer to a 0% card to reduce payments and interest

Mortgage/house - anything you can do here? (options are wide ranging here and I'm not an expert anything from fixing your rate to straight up selling and buying/renting somewhere smaller)

Utilities - provide readings to your energy supplier regularly (or have smart meters fitted) so you can bring down your costs/reduce your bills/monthly payments, look to fix your prices.

Water - would a water meter give you a saving?

Council tax - would a single person discount apply?

Sorry your having to deal with all this.

If you give us a bit more detail about your set up we could maybe tailor the advice a bit better?

It must be awful to have to worry about finances as well as worrying about your DH. Try not to let your own health suffer too.

What kind of job does he do and in what sector? There are loads of benevolent funds that are tied either to professions or to sectors such as the motor trade. Some give direct financial support and some help signpost you to other support. Turn2Us have a grants search, it’s linked on their main webpage and easy to do. They’re also a good source of financial advice.

Best wishes to you OP.

I think I remember seeing on a previous thread that some life policies will pay out "early" if the insured person is terminal. Sorry if that is blunt/insensitive and I hope that is not where you are...but thought I'd raise it.

Contact the council for your 25% off the council tax, if you’re now living alone.

Thank you so much everyone. What you already advised has been really helpful. Some other info might be useful;

My dh has a severe brain injury
He cannot communicate currently
He works in HE sector
I work full time
We have three children (school aged)
We have a decent sized mortgage still to pay off.
I have started the deputyship process

I am sorry you are having to deal with this. What are the circumstances of his brain injury? If it was sustained in an accident where someone else is at fault and you will be making a personal injury claim then the solicitors can request an interim placement but this will take time to come through.

Headway is a brain injury charity who will be able to provide support. They have a helpline and also local branches.

(I'm a rehab medicine consultant and a lot of my job is working with people with brain injuries.)

First step check your life insurance policy, I assume you have critical illness cover on there too? That should take some pressure off for a while. I hope your husband makes a quick recovery.

Check your mortgage cover.. My friend had cancer and asked her mortgage company for a payment holiday. They paid off her home. She had no idea she was eligible..

Not sure but call your council on Monday, if this is classed as a mental impairment then you can get a reduced rate.