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.

I can't believe this is real. If you want your wife's money I suggest you take her out of the care home and look after her yourself.

My in laws did, all 400k of it, (and their monthly pensions) we didn’t mind as a family either, we didn’t apply for a CHC or kick up at fuss at the council, it was their money and they needed the extra care that the NHS couldn’t provide, plus we found a care home that could actually accommodate and deal with their illnesses not just the cheapest home we could find

Well I didn't want my inheritance going to pay my dad's care home bill but it did and I glad as I knew my dad was well looked after. Shit happens deal with it, HTH.

It would be completely shameless to have £180,000 and yet expect the council to pay for your wife's care.

Why do you expect the taxpayers of Essex (many of whom will be younger people with no hope of owning or inheriting a property) to pay out instead?

It's a fact of life most of us are resigned to. I'm not expecting any inheritance as I assume it will go on my mum's care.

My grandad owned some land that he hoped to be able to leave to his grandchildren.

Sadly he had a massive stroke and needed ongoing care for the last 5 years of his life. The land was sold and most of it was used to pay care fees. He was in a good private care home near us and my Gran and they looked after him well.

That was the important thing in the end, surely?

No unfortunately an awful lot of people do this

Well you claim attendance allowance or PIP for her, you use her pension, you invest the £180k and use the interest or you buy a care annuity.

Why not? You are paying for a service, which happens to be provided by the council. If the council doesn't provide it you can opt to pay privately. That's what money is for. What are you intending to do with the £180k otherwise??

If MIL lives a few years longer, there will be no inheritance. So nothing to worry about.

The system of paying for social care is a mess and politicians have been cowards about sorting it out. Newspapers twitting on about "death taxes" doesn't help either.

However there should be NO system for paying for social care which allows boomer wealth to be handed down untouched while younger people (many of whom will have no hope of owning or inheriting property) are expected to pay more in tax instead.

In an ideal world, all social care would be paid for by the state (taxpayers). Nobody would have to pay anything for going into a care home. Taxes would be high enough to cover it. Especially inheritance tax. So nobody would be getting a big windfall inheritance - because that is not fair on people whose parent's don't have property.

However that is not the world we live in, so OP is completely morally wrong to want to play the system and get the inheritance instead of it going to pay for the care.

Counting down the days till mil croaks it and your wife is banged up in care. Leaving you to spend spend spend. You sound like my brother

Well quite. I am not sure people like the OP realise that. If the taxpaye paid for all care needs, taxes would have to rise. A LOT. And the most equitable thing to do would be to tax inheritance and/or property.

Hopefully your MIL will live to at least 115 and you'll get nowt.

Why should my taxes be paying for your wife?

I'm a tax paying care worker.

Are you saying that you want people like me to not only do the job of looking after your wife, but to pay for it too?
So that you can pocket her inheritance?

Jesus Christ.

If DMIL is in a care home what is she there for? If she has any kind of cognition impairment you are t going to get a valid new will and that's assuming she does want to change her will.

Well you would not be “giving” the council anything would you?

What your wife would be doing with her inheritance would be paying for the premises, their upkeep, the 24 hour staffing, the utilities, the laundry, the food, the cleaning, the maintenance, the management and all the other sundries that go into keeping her safe and secure in her care home, while you sit at home resenting every penny.

If you want to keep her money under your control you will have to have her back at home and rely on private careers coming in daily to care for her.

My wife is physically and mentally impaired and will need care for possible over 30 years.

I was hoping to take her on lots of day trips and visits to nice restaurants and the theatre. She loves London shows.

I wanted the money to give her the best life I can.

Hahahaha what a chancer you are.

Hoping MIL passes on and that you can swan off with you wifes inheritance, while the taxpayer funds her care.

I hope someone here works for Essex CC and can flag this post.

Luckily she will be able to pay for those lovely days out with her own money.

The majority of people do not go into care homes.

Why can't you do that with the money that you earn?

The cap has been scrapped I believe. It’s just the amount OP said.

What was your experience of the financial assessment previously for your wife? Did they look at both joint and sole accounts when they did it? Does your MIL not need the £180k for her care or does she have other savings?