Inheritance

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Inspired by a currently active thread, surely there must be some MNetters out there who haven't inherited anything from grandparents or parents? DF is still alive - I'm pretty sure DM, who passed away a couple of years ago, left everything to him, and I'm not holding out for any inheritance from DF as I feel it is safer to assume any assets could well be eaten up by care home fees or any unexpected events. I inherited nothing from any grandparents. Yes, you bet I am jealous of those who have been more fortunate than I in this area! Is it just a Mumsnet thing where people expect to, or have received, an inheritance?

Actually I’m torn on this subject. Why should I have to pay for my care when I’ve worked, paid tax and generally contributed to society for over fifty years, and yet, my neighbours have never worked, been on benefits, now have children on benefits and get care homes free of charge?
We currently live in a culture of people not wanting to work! Very different from not being able to. They get everything paid for them, no council tax etc etc and yet people who have worked have to sell everything they have worked for to get the same level of care. Do you consider that fair?

I don’t expect anything really , my grandparents left me nothing at all .
My dad died and there was an arrangement with his will but had to relinquish any rights to funds because mum needed to be in a care home and she would not have the place without confirmation that we could cover at least 2 years fees.

All savings gone now and the funds from the sale of the low value home are running down very quickly indeed .
I took a number of nice decorative items and clothing etc to mum’s room in the home to make it as homely as possible .
So I will have something to remember her by but only a few ornaments really

I agree on this. I said up thread already but I’m in Ireland where there’s a cap on care home fees and (while there’s a lot we do very wrong in this country) this I think we do in the right way. Most people in a position to leave a property behind when they die will have have worked throughout their life to enable them to purchase it in the first place. They will have paid tax and government contributions throughout their working life. You pay approx 7% of the property value yearly up to a max of three years. When the fair deal scheme was brought it it was stated a large majority of the people eligible for care would have passed within that 3 year period anyway (I think approx 20% would pass within the first 3 months) so their care is paid but for the minority who survive beyond that the government supplement their care

You may not need paid care, Lyraloo, many people just get old and die still living in their own homes. Try to think positively.

I'm certainly going to do my best to stay at home, I'm happy to pay for a cleaner and to be driven anywhere I need to go but quite determined not to go to a care home. If I need personal care I can hire someone to come in and help me. I do get there are conditions where there's no choice, dementia for example if the person needs 24/7 supervision, other than that most can manage with a bit of help at home.

My parents, in laws and grandparents didn't go into homes.

I don't agree that people with nothing get the same care as those who can afford to pay. Private care homes are much nicer and more comfortable but even they should only be a last resort imo.

Do your best to keep yourself healthy for as long as you can, enjoy your money while you have it and stop worrying about what may never happen. Most of all don't envy others whose lives may well have been far less interesting and fulfilled than yours.

That sounds like a really great way to do things fairly. 👍

Just get photo I d then..apply for a passport

You misunderstood my comments, I don’t ‘envy’ anyone and especially people who don’t work and do nothing with their lives. I’ve travelled the world, lived in different countries and generally had a good life. I was using myself as an example, not meaning that is what was going to happen to me. Like you, I have no intention of ever going into a care home.

@LBFseBrom It doesn’t matter whether you agree or not that the state funded residents are receiving the same level of care in the same home as the self funders. Because you’re wrong.

Neither of my parents had much money.

I was left a few hundred from each of them, that's all.

No one contributed enough though.

That's why some people have loads of money in the bank, the country is 2 trillion in debt and Reeves is about to rinse everyone with another huge taxation rise in the next budget.

No one has paid for their care out of taxation. There is no pot that they have contributed to. They might claim they have, but they haven't.

’I don't agree that people with nothing get the same care as those who can afford to pay. Private care homes are much nicer and more comfortable but even they should only be a last resort imo.‘

the reality is that the division between ‘private’ and council funded places is not that clear. Someone posted succinctly on this upthread but I will recap as best I can. Homes can take both council and self funded residents. You may find you have more choice self funding however You may find that a home is identified not based on ‘niceness’ but on your need and where will accept you. You can end up not only in a room next to a council funded person but also paying for their place as well as your own as the council fees don’t cover the whole cost and self funders make up the difference.

so, whilst I support funding your OWN care I don’t support 1) being expected to subsidise the care of council funded places 2) treating a couple as a unit so that when person 1 dies all their money/assets are considered in scope to pay for person 2. I think that splitting assets (as per tenants in common) is proportionate, fair and should be respected - I believe tenant in common splits are generally sound however councils can challenge them.

My children have inherited from their grandmother, as their father died before his mother - not fortunate...

Grandparents all long gone, rented homes, didn’t leave a penny. My mother left her house to my brother for his lifetime, as he had been living back there for 20 years since my father died, and he couldn’t possibly be expected to find his own home. He’ll probably outlive my sister and me, so our shares of mum’s house will eventually be divided between our AC (brother is single and no kids). We did split mum’s investments, about £10k each, I opted for cash but the others kept theirs in shares, as I wish I’d done too.

I've inherited from an aunt and uncle. I'm fairly poor myself (or I was pre-inheritance), but family have done quite well in the boomer generation. But I know one person who is running up debt in the expectation they will clear it with their inheritance, which could be decades away and may not happen. I don't understand that kind of logic.

@Thistlewoman I’m in a similar mindset

have had to make my own way, with lots of hard work, saving, investing and generally not having any hopes about inheriting anything ..

So what are you saying? That people who have worked and saved should be taxed more to support those that haven’t!
you haven’t answered my point of the unfairness of the current system!

People aren't necessarily grasping expecting an inheritance to come their way. Often relatives dangle it like a carrot promising that you will be alright when we go.
Ex husband and his sister had been promised money from a cottage which had been their grandads parents. He predeceased his mother and when she eventually died the money went to ex husband's father which the grandparents hadn't wanted to happen (their abusive son). But that was the law.
So when the father died a couple of years after receiving this substantial sum they thought there would be a bit left as he hasn't handed them any.
But no we had to pay for the funeral he'd spent the lot on women cars and booze and died in a stupor. When everything was sorted out we received a refund on his gas and electric as he had been topping it up over the summer ready for winter it worked out about £400 each. But it had cost us more to clear his flat of his piss soaked furniture and carpets before another week's rent was due! And a mate of his had been in the flat already taking some good bits then saying how he had gifted them to him.

My father lay on his death bed and said " You'll get all of it"

Didn't pan out that way.

the reality is that the division between ‘private’ and council funded places is not that clear
Yes, self funders or council people might end up in the sane home but the difference after that can be huge.

My grandmother self funded. She had a huge room with a small terrace and view of the sea. Her room was freshly painted, the bathroom was lovely and spacious. She got the hairdresser weekly as part of the fee, and could order special meals. She was able to attend free activities with transport included.

The council funded were all in a different wing, darker and smaller rooms, old furniture, no terrace etc...They might have well been in different buildings and I know which part I'd like to reside in later in life if it comes to it.

Where do you propose the money comes from then ?

Because it has to come from somewhere.

As for people that haven't worked and saved, that is a philosophical question, whether you believe that only people that work and saved should be entitled to benefits or end of life care.

There are lots of reasons why people may have not managed to save during their life. For example, there are a lot of people that have not worked or saved who had zero chance of doing that during their lives to various disabilities or medical problems they have had. How should their care be paid for ? Or should they not receive any at all ?

If there is one thing that is really unfair for many people its being born unable to work through severe disability. The "unfairness" of having to pay more tax pales into insignificance compared to this.

The amount of money a self-funder has to pay is huge - at least £70k per year. That is the minimum. And ideally for such a huge amount of money I would want to stay in a luxurious home, not propping up state finders in that same home, but that’s a fantasy. So I’ll take my chances and spend as much as I can when I can and plan accordingly EARLY.

The whole issue of equitable funding needs to be sorted. You can’t just back an unfair system as it’s better than nothing.

The system needs to be rooted in personal consumption, no direct subsidies for council funded places, no taking 100% of a house that is only owned 50%, no financial benefit to order of death/need for care.

On that last one, couple 1, person A needs care and person B is alive. House not taken into account. Person A dies in care, person b then dies at home. Result. Estate intact. Couple 2. Person A dies. Person B goes into care. Result. Estate lost. Both couple have the same assets, the same care needs and spend yet one family comes out with nothing and one with an intact estate. How is that fair??? As I said, I don’t mind paying for my own care. I just don’t want paying for my own care to mean I pay for someone else’s whether that is the person in the next room, or my partners.

For goodness sake, read what people write. I said before that there is a big difference between people who choose not to work and those that can’t! And yes, for those people who have chosen not to work or contribute to society, there should be the very minimum of care. That would free up money to provide for people who are disabled etc, and those that have worked and contributed.

But then your parents would have to die young g enough for you to retire early. I know someone who is now 75. Their DF is 97 Good job she wasn't relying on inheritance from him to retire early

I think it’s more the cost of the care that’s the problem, although I don’t think there’s a solution.