How does a 70 year old returning to uk support themself

[Tullyfan]

My widowed godmother's cousin wants to return to the UK having lived all her adult life in the USA having been born here. Both in their early seventies. The cousin intends to stay with my godmother who has plenty of room but is a little concerned about losing her single person's council tax etc if the sale turns out to be taking a long time. Feels that her cousin may be under-estimating the cost of living here and is worried about whether she will have any entitlements to doctors, nhs dentists,eye tests etc' or any benefits should she not be able to sell her house. What if she needed care etc should she fall seriously ill. Can anyone advise on what rights a uk citizen has in the uk if they have never paid national insurance or been domiciled here as an adult or is she entitled to the same state protection financially as an adult who has always lived here?

Why? Why would she need to divorce? Her husband can stay in the US while she lives in the UK.

She's hardly likely to want to bring him since they've been separated for years

You can get pension credit though which is better

She needs to understand fatca tax reporting. It can be very difficult to get a bank account, or types of investment, while she has US citizenship. She can renounce it, but that might be risky if she ever wants or needs to go back.

Strongly recommend you cousin sells the house first and then move. Selling is hard enough without adding in not being in the same country! Also, I don’t know how American law works, has she legally fully separated so nothing can come back to bite her later on?

Then when she moves over she can just concentrate on finding some where new to live.

The American state pension (Social Security) is generally more generous than the British state pension.

The cousin won’t be eligible for the British state pension because she hasn’t paid in. But she can claim her Social Security whilst living in the UK. She might need to have it electronically deposited into an American account, but this is a manageable inconvenience.

DH worked in America for a substantial amount of time in total, and this is what he is doing. (His private American pension is deposited in the UK but his Social Security is deposited in America). It worked out much better than buying UK pension credits with his Social Security contributions.

It's because they are separated but not divorced.

If she were to die following her return to the UK, there could be scope for a claim on her estate by her husband.

She may also find being separated but not divorced has an impact on things like Pension Credit (should she be eligible).

@Thechaseison71 it’s a bit of a joke really. She spends all her adult life abroad & pays nothing in & then when she wants free healthcare she is not only entitled to that, but also pension credit & presumably old age care.

If she has t paid tax or NI to uk I would hope she isn’t eligible for anything

I’m sure she is aware of the consequences of not being divorced means that she will inherit from him or vice versa. There’s no need to divorce just to emigrate by herself back to the UK.

Pension credit she won’t be eligible for as she will have some kind of Social Security income which is usually more than the UK state pension.

Yes if she has a higher income she won't get PC but she won't be left without money

It’s quite odd that she is moving back to the UK- all her support network and friendships must be in the US. She must be moving back purely for financial reasons I imagine- basically the NHS and care.

I would advise your godmother to make sure her house is sold and that she is paying her rent - has the massive potential to end up with this woman for a long time!

Given she will have money from a house sale too, she likely won’t be eligible for any benefits at all.

Maybe she is afraid of ICE and is self-deporting. She might not be white British, but Black British. Some crazy stuff going on over there rn.

Yep, and being expected to fuel and fund her!

No , I don’t think she would get any benefits at all . Like myself. Born in Uk, but left as a young teenager. I never worked there . If I was wanting to retire there I would get nothing from the government. And I wouldn’t expect it . Maybe medical assistance, that’s it .

Lots of incorrect advice on this thread. You don’t need to sell your house overseas in order to access the NHS! She will be entitled to pension credits but as she will also be getting at the very least spousal social security from the States (which is far more generous) it will probably cancel out any pension credits she might receive. So financially I expect she’ll be fine.

Quite understandable that she wants to come "home" when you see the precarious situation that non-US citizens now find themselves in. I have elderly relatives who have lived in the US for decades as Green Card holders, and now find themselves in a situation where they are terrified to leave the country for a vacation, in case they're not allowed back in.

Being a British citizen doesn't necessarily mean she can apply for things here, for benefits and long term NHS care (ie as opposed to emergency) she would also have to be considered habitually resident, is that the govt see it as plausible that she has moved permanently and is living here rather than being here on an extended holiday. As she won't be working, and by the sounds of it has limited family connections here, and strong connections in the US including owning a property, she may find that they turn her down. HBT is tricky because although there are general things they look at it's also quite subjective, so it's hard to prove/appeal if they decide against you.

Yes you would if u had no other income