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.

Germany introduced a social care tax over 20 years ago. We could do the same to avoid this sort of issue.

And the hypocrisy on this thread. Fine for local government to take someone's inheritance to pay care fees, but woe betide central government for taking inheritance tax to pay for other things.

I wasn’t talking about OP’s wife. I was talking about his MiL who is in care because of age decline. The intention is to divert funds from her own care so that OP’s wife can inherit. If it weren’t for the deprivation of assets rule, that would leave MIL dependent on someone else subsidising her care from their own funding pot when she has enough funds to cover it herself.

There is no inheritance, MIL is still living.

As others have said, £180,000 would pay for about 2-3 years of care home fees. Even at 94, nobody knows how long she will live. According to the ONS the average life expectancy for 94 year olds is 97 years. She may spend all or most of her money on her own care.

No it isn't.
Where have I said that?

Yes, my DF died 4 years ago when my DM was only just showing signs of memory issues. I've been told if he had left his half of their property to my children in trust then it would have been safe. Def something I'll think about for the future!

It still doesn’t change the facts. If you are in a care home which accepts LA funded residents you will pay more to subsidise them.

@Hateam How do you know how much your MIL will leave in her will? If she lives for another 3 years, the sum you mentioned will be pretty much gone.

OP, sorry about your wife but I hope ‘the tone of the replies’ makes you think long and hard about the morality of what you want to do. As hard as it is to watch a large sum of money go on care, that care is very costly (and valuable) and someone has to pay for it.

The actions you suggest don’t reflect particularly well on you.

You need to get out more Karen!!

Its fraud. People should be ashamed of doing this.

You haven’t really clarified how you think £180,000 will be left after MiL’s care fees are taken care of. Unless they are protected in some way all of her assets will be used for care, so in practicality any inheritance will only be what is left after care home fees are paid.

Exactly, so that they can accept LA funded residents, which attract a lower fee. You can cut it whatever way you want, it still means the same thing.

Fraud manager here.
Had a recent case referred to us (The LA) where family member has withdrawn all the money. Literally nothing has been done.
Social services had a word with the elderly person who said I don’t want my family to know that I’m aware they my money has been taken by X.
All this deprivation of assets appears to be utter bollocks in practice as there’s nothing we can do about it.
Police sat in on meetings, social services sat in. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Hands are tied as the elderly person has capacity, if she didn’t it would be a different matter apparently.

I do understand that you’d rather the council not get your inheritance, but really to avoid it morally speaking you should provide the care.

Sounds like u will need to remove the others from the care homes and look after them or pay what is due.

Most posters are assuming MIL’s care fees are being met from a dwindling capital sum. It is entirely possible that they are being funded through a combination of pension and investment income and that the £180000 is the likely residue once she dies.

She is not diverting funds anywhere
She's leaving it in her will

The seven year rule was scrapped some time ago. LA’s can go back as far as they want to prove deprivation of assets. Basically if you have a reasonable expectation that you will need care when you make financial arrangements which leave little or nothing for care, the LA will treat you as though you still have those assets and will not fund your care.

Maybe because his MIL might have worked her arse off to earn her money, instead of living off the state which would have entitled her to full care being paid for by the tax payer. It’s always the way on MN - anyone who dares to have money in the bank, or assets, should hand it over to the council to subsidise those who have frittered away any money they have.

In normal circumstances I'd agree with you as I dislike people who look to avoid care fees in order to preserve inheritance. Because in such cases its typically greedy adult children wanting their hands on free money while the tax payer pays for their parents care.
However, in this guys case, I feel for him. His MiL is already paying for her care, as she should. The £180k will be all that's left and at this rate will go on the OPs wife's care. Care she needs not because she's elderly but because of horrible bad luck of a life changing medical condition. The OP has had his life turned upside down. His wife has lost decades of potential earnings. If this guy can find a loophole to keep some money to make his and his wife's life a bit easier, I won't be judging his morals.

This isn't about NHS / medical care. This is about day to day care needs.

Grow up….🙄

🤷🏼‍♀️ Still fraud, still pissed me off as the person in question is severely neglected. No clothing, no snacks, no foot or hair appointments.

Was informed that social services will now cover her if we pursue deprivation. So the elderly person wouldn’t lose their place within the home.