Inheritance and care home fees

[Hateam]

Hello!

My mother-in-law is in a care home.

My wife, her daughter, is also in a care home for medical - non age related- issues. My council are paying for my wife's care as we have under £24500 in savings.

When my MIL dies (she's 94) my wife will inherit about £180,000.

We don't want this money going to Essex CC.

Is there anything we can?

Could my MIL's will be changed to remove my wife and replace her with me? She is still of sound mind.

Could the money go into an account in my sole name?

I am aware of the concept of deprivation of assets.

And where did I say she should give away her assets!! I said she should change her will so that her remaining estate does not pass to her daughter. This is the question the OP asked - nothing about giving assets away while his MIL is alive, the OP was very clear and said that when his MIL died there was an expectation that £180k would be left.

How come MIL’s assets aren’t being used to fund her care?

Deprivation of assets means that if you have a reasonable expectation of needing care at the time you give away your assets the LA will treat you as though you still have them and will refuse to fund your ongoing care

What are you on about?

MIL is in a home and paying fees.

OP’s wife is in a care home and fully funded

The question is if MIL left OPs wife the full inheritance - it will be swallowed up in a couple of years.

There is no fraud.

It’s the same as parents not leaving a disabled child an inheritance so they don’t lose their assisted living and expenses - they leave it to a more bale child who will help and care to the sibling.

Yet again the middle are squeezed - it’s not right and it’s not fair - if the rich paid their dues and the work shy worked we wouldn’t be in this position.

OP is a very small drop in a very large ocean.

Good luck.

Personal care at home is funded by the state - no means testing - in Scotland, nothing more. Up to four visits a day for toileting / feeding / washing / médecin etc.

My mil is in nursing care in Edinburgh: taxpayers spend £1800 per week to keep her alive. She’s completely immobile, doubly incontinent, can’t communicate, can’t feed herself. She’s been there for 4 years. That’s £374,400 already. For one person. She may well live for many years to come. She only worked part-time, not much of a pension, and only owns half an apartment with FIL lives in, so it’s discounted. She didn’t save a penny towards care (and neither she should have).

we need a big conversation about ageing and dying and why we keep people alive well beyond their natural span.

One friend has mobility issues. She has a car on the motorbility scheme. Should she pay for that herself?

She does pay for it herself. She'll be paying £75 a week for the car from her PIP award.

It is not free.

Your Mil is paying for her care out of her money. It'd not your wife's money.
Why should tax payers fund your mils care when she has funds to do so herself?

Everybody wants better social care but nobody wants to pay for it.

Putting money in somebody else’s name so that you can claim care which you would otherwise not be entitled to IS fraud. The money isn’t going to anyone vulnerable it’s going to the husband….!

Why do you think I was accusing anyone of fraud ? The question is not whether MiL leaves OP’s wife the full inheritance - that’s not possible because MiL has to fund her own care. The most she can will to her DD is whatever is left of her estate after care fees are settled on her death. Read back through my posts, it’s perfectly clear.

So you want your MIL's money while the Council pays for your wife's care?

Yep. And once someone is actually in care, you can’t set up a trust fund to avoid care fees. The expectation of care fees at the time you put assets into trust is already satisified.

Where do you get that from - nothing in OP’s posts suggests that otherwise they wouldn’t be asking how to avoid the care fees.

In this case the lady requiring care is paying for it.
It's her grabby son in law doesn't want her to as wants his mils cash when passes

They are. OP is asking how to avoid any more of them being used.

The question that you should have asked, OP, is "should NHS treatment be means tested?"

I bet you would have got a whole lot of different answers then!

It’s not, otherwise he wouldn’t be asking.

Why ? There’s no way of knowing whether OP’s wife would qualify for NHS ongoing care. Virtually no-one does.

I agree with Sinderalla, my mother had Alzheimer’s. My sister and I looked after her as long as we could, but they came a time when her needs were greater than we could manage so she went into a care home! Because her and my father worked hard all of their life, bought a house, and on many occasions did without and saved the little bit they could! My mother had to pay for every bit of her care. The majority of people in the care home got it for free! If you look at the cost of what self funding people pay! To what the council pay the care homes, there is a big difference, so self funding people subsidies the free ones!

You have no children to think of and your wife isn't able to take advantage of her inheritance so this is about you wanting to enjoy money you have done nothing to earn rather than pay your way towards your wife's huge costs? Umm

Yes I wonder what OP is planning to do with this money… that’s not his and he is not entitled to.

They were also very clear in asking if there was any way they could avoid the inheritance going towards care fees We don't want this money going to Essex CC. Is there anything we can do ?. And unless the money is already protected in a trust fund there is no way to prevent it being used for care fees. Whatever is left of MiL’s estate, if not protected, will depend on how long she lives. Unless OP cares to update us ?