What would happen in this situation?

[Aug19]

DF owns the house he and DM have lived in since their marriage (he owned it before they were married). Her name is not on the deeds, she's ok about that.

What would happen if DF needed to go into care? Could the house be sold to pay for it and DM made to leave?

Any advice greatly received, thanks!

Not an expert but read lots in case we end up in that scenario! It looks like if a spouse or dependent lives there then it cant be included in the assessment or sale be forced. If things are moving toward him going into care I would take it to a solicitor to make sure you had a clear legal view

www.independentage.org/information/support-care/paying-for-care/do-i-have-to-sell-my-home-to-pay-for-residential-care

This is copied from the Age UK website, it would be useful for you to have a look at this website as it gives good advice about many aspects of care for elderly people.

^Does my home have to be included in the means test?

In some situations, your home won’t be taken into account in the means test. There are a few circumstances where this applies:

If you need temporary or short-term care only, your home won’t be included in the means test.
If your care home is permanent, it won’t be counted if it’s still occupied by:

your partner or former partner, unless they are estranged from you
your estranged or divorced partner IF they are also a lone parent
a relative who is aged 60 or over
a child of yours aged under 18
a relative who is disabled.^

She would not have to leave. If she dies first obviously the house would have to be sold to pay for his care if he needed it. Just be aware though that local authorities don’t pay the full cost of care. Also, if they gave savings over a few thousand they would have to use those too. That can’t be avoided by putting all the savings into someone else’s name less than seven years before they need it.

Thanks for the responses, it only occurred to me to ask the question after a conversation with someone about houses being sold to fund care.

Well, if your DM goes into care, in theory they can't touch the house or the capital tied up in it even if she was co-owner. So naturally, any social worker who gets over the threshold will mention to your father that he might like to sell up and move somewhere smaller, that the place is getting too much for him. Which may be true but aint the reason they're suggesting it! It's because the house sale frees up capital that can go towards the funding of the spouse in care.

Otherwise they can't get their hot little hands on it. I guess a family occupying a family home works better too in terms of poll tax going to the council and so on.

This would seem not to apply to your father as you say he owns the property. Of course, if due to some sudden stroke he requires a care home well the property's cash from a sale will go on his care, not sure what your mother gets then, she could outlive him by 10 years you never know. Or he could remarry and leave the whole lot to a grasping gold digger and her kids, so you and your mum are cut out. If he does this in a fit of dementia too bad; marriage trumps a will. He could then be dead in two years and you get nothing.

What else? Oh yes. If both your mum and dad have a fair bit of capital between them, house included, taking it over the million mark, then one of you should leave a will leaving it to the 'kids'. Why? Cos you get a £1m threshold. So if say your mum dies first (not a jolly subject this but bear with me) then without a will it goes straight to your Dad. Fine, except for a) The golddigger scenario, where even all her money goes to 'the other woman' and not you, and b) Even if he holds on to it and leaves it all to you, if it's over a million (that's his life savings, the house, you mum's life savings etc over decades we're not talking millionaires here) you pay a shedload of inheritance tax. If it's under a million, you don't. So if one of the spouses leaves, say, £800K to his/her adult children, they don't pay much if anything on it. But if they leave it to the spouse and it takes it over the million mark, then when that goes to the 'children' they're suddenly having to pay loads of inheritance tax that otherwise could have been avoided.

That is all.

Oh, I meant: 'If both your mum and dad have a fair bit of capital between them, house included, taking it over the million mark, then one of you should leave a will leaving it to the 'kids'' I meant 'then one of them (ie father or mother'')should make a will leaving it to you, ie the adult children...'

It’s worth getting your DM on the deeds and having a 50 percent share of the house
That way both parents can leave there 50 percent to whoever they want with a life interest to the other person
Also it means that say if your mum passed away first If she left her half to you that 50 percent could not be touched for care fees for your father if needed in the future
Also it’s practically impossible for the council to force a sale as you can’t sale 50 percent of a house
Mumblchum the will writer on here did my parents wills and split the tenancy for them cost about £300