Home owned jointly - paying care fees

[gremlindolphin]

Hi just wondered if anyone has any experience that might help?

My mum and I own the house she was living in jointly and have done since my father died 10 years ago. Mum has been very ill and is now in a nursing home. Although paralysed and unable to do anything without help she has been assessed as not eligible for continuing care as in other aspects she is ok.

The house is now rented out and the rent goes towards paying for the nursing home.

We have been told by our local authority that mum's half of the house is included in her finances and that they will therefore not contribute anything to her care fees. Our Financial Adviser is telling us to fight this decision as no one can force us to sell my half of the house and so at the moment mum's half of the house is effectively valueless. Neither Mum or I wish to sell the house as her side of the family has lived in it forever and the rental income is good.

I just wondered whether fighting this is worthwhile or undue stress? The other option is to remortgage/equity release her side of the property over time.

Its all very confusing! Any help appreciated.

its is very confusing - and surely she needs nursing care which should be free if she is paralysed so I would have that looked at again as well.
-I would say its very much worth investigating it further as the sums of money involved are large.

If you haven't looked at it Age UK website that would be a good start

My friend was in a similar situation. If your mum's spouse was living in the house, it would be disregarded, but I think the LA is right in this case, that it does get taken into account.

See here

Can you continue to pay from the rent and top it up yourselves on the understanding that the amount you pay just now will come out her estate? This may be tricky if you have siblings - less so if you are an only child.

Hi thanks for your comments! I have just been reading the CRAG guidelines April 2011 which state the following:

Joint beneficial ownership of property

7.017 Where a resident is a joint beneficial owner of property, i.e. he has the right to receive some of the proceeds of a sale, it is the resident's interest in the property which is to be valued as capital, and not the property itself. The value of this interest is governed by

1. the resident's ability to re-assign the beneficial interest to somebody else

2. there being a market i.e. the interest being such as to attract a willing buyer for the interest. Regulation 27(2)

7.018 In most cases there is unlikely to be any legal impediment preventing a joint beneficial interest in a property being re-assigned. But the likelihood of there being a willing buyer will depend on the conditions in which the joint beneficial interest has arisen.

7.019 Where an interest in a property is beneficially shared between relatives, the value of theresident's interest will be heavily influenced by the possibility of a market amongst his fellow beneficiaries. If no other relative is willing to buy the resident's interest, it is highly unlikely that any "outsider" would be willing to buy into the property unless the financial advantages far outweighed the risks and limitations involved. The value of the interest, even to a willing buyer, could in such circumstances effectively be nil. If the local authority is unsure about the resident's share, or their valuation is disputed by the resident, again a professional valuation should be obtained.

All very interesting! Nothing is ever simple.

Could she not just give you her share?

Ah if only life were that simple - if she did it would be a deliberate deprevation of assets (or something like that!) and I would have to give it back! x

Is there a time limit to this, along the lines of seven years for inheritance tax? E.g. if home transferred ten years before care needed?

Does the council not put a charge on the asset? Similar to having it deducted from her estate.

You " buy" her half off her for a notional value which you could do via a remortgage,
There's no ready buyer for her half - realistically who would buy half a house with someone they don't know or have any relationship with.
This way she gets some capital and the house is protected and by what I read in the extract of CRAG is perfectly legal.