Care home/House question

[user1471543683]

Wasn’t sure where to put this so apologies it’s not really an AUBU.
Due to a relative being unwell at the minute it has got me thinking about a situation. We are in Scotland.
Partner and I have been together a long time. I moved into his house and we’ve had children together. A few months ago we had a civil partnership.
if he was down the line needing to go into a home would the house need to be sold? At the moment he is only on the title deeds but should I be getting my name on them too?
any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

I would get my name on the deeds regardless. He could boot you out in the future, you might have little to no claim to stay.

should I be getting my name on them too?

Thats up to him, if it’s his house.
Do you contribute to the mortgage?

Regardless, look up Mandatory Disregard. If you live in the property as your main home as his civil partner and he goes into care, the LA can’t count the value of the house in their financial assessment.

Yes you need to be on deeds. And also own as tennants in common , then care home fees can only be taken from the % share of the person who is in receipt of the care.

Get power of attorney for yourself - both financial and health and discuss with him too. Preferably have someone younger than yourself to be your chosen person but someone you can trust. Therefore if you are his acting POA you can make decisions about his health needs etc. It is very complicated so seek advice.

Not sure about Scotland, but in England, if you need to go into a home and your partner is over 60, living in your home, then it cannot be included in the financial assessment. I can’t see it being much different in Scotland.
www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/

If you are living in the house with him at the point where he needs to go into care, the property will be disregarded for the financial assessment, as long as you continue to live there. It doesn’t matter if you are not on the deeds / the property is solely owned by him - it’s occupation not ownership that counts in this context.

BUT if you subsequently wanted to move, you’d be gubbed. If you left the property it would all be his asset, not shared. You can’t sell a property that you do not own. And even if you were his attorney that wouldn’t give you the right to sell it to give you money to buy somewhere else - as POA you need to act in his best interests, not yours. For that reason - and others - it would help to protect you if the property was jointly owned.

You can own as tenants in common (each own one half) or joint tenants (shared ownership, full ownership goes to the survivor when one dies).

What about wills? has he written a will to leave the property to you?

Or divorce?

it’s a good idea to work through the possibilities for each of the big life events.

Yeh we have made wills and what we have just gets passed down to the other.
I think I need to get something in motion as we do not have POA either.
thanks

Do you get the same legal entitlements with a civil partnership as you do a marriage? In any case why dont you just get married? Consult a solicitor.

Pretty much. My sister and her partner did it to cover pensions m, next of kin etc mostly. One thing it doesn’t do is cancel any wills that were written previously, which marriage does.