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Elderly parents

De-tangling father in laws finances & entitlments

57 replies

Comefromaway · 27/04/2021 17:56

Fil is in a right state and his Dd (my sil) has asked me to help as I’m apparentky good with this kind of stuff.

Long story short, he’d been caring for mil with dementia. This took a huge toll on his mental & physical health. He was rushed into hospital last summer and things come to a head. He’d been sticking his ear in the sand, refusing help etc but he reached crisis point a few weeks ago and mil went into respite care (long overdue). He then understandably said he didn’t want her back (she was violent, refused all personal care help, smelt of urine etc etc).

Anyway long story short she’s been assessed as having no capacity and requiring 24/7 care in a home. Someone came to do do a financial assessment.

They own their own house jointly (no mortgage) only worth about £45k needs a lot of work. They have some savings in the bank & individual ISA. Under the savings limit with regards to the care home fees but just over the limit for pension credit.

He’s received a letter that apparently says his pension is going to be reduced to £130 per week. I’m assuming it’s because he’s now going to be classed as a single person. He says he can’t live on that and will have to go back to work part time. (His knees are so bad he can’t walk without pain & he suffers angina, pancreatitis. He’s on anti depressants.

I’m getying him too bring al his financial paperwork for me to look through. Mil gets a small private pension but I don’t think he does though I can’t be sure. Also I’m assuming now the ISA in her name can’t go towards his income. Do we have to declare all the other savings or split them in half. I assume mild pension will go to the home (my nans did)

Are they any other things I should be investigating. I thought of attendance allowance but he doesn’t need help with personal care even though his knees & pancreas are shot. But he does neglect himself when he gets depressed. We do have him round as often as possible and cook him a meal etc.

He got single person council tax and mil wasn’t counted due to the dements. I’m assuming he will no longer get her attendance allowance now she’s in the home.

OP posts:
Comefromaway · 01/05/2021 20:22

@MereDintofPandiculation

My Dad didn't switch electricity supplier because he was convinced the new supplier would inspect his wiring and would Condemn it because it didn't meet the latest wiring regs and would want to do a complete rewiring before taking it on.

When i changed it, I was able to email a copy of the LPA. There is a strong temptation to commit fraud and just claim you're the person whose name the account is in.

Especially when I share the same initial and surname as mil!

£55 a month for broadband s the latest ive discovered! In a tiny terrace house with 2 old iPads and an iPhone 6s.

OP posts:
backaftera2yearbreak · 01/05/2021 20:26

First 10k does not count in pension credit. Then it’s £1 if I come for every £500. Try entitled to. See if you can get Attendance allowance for him if he does not already have it.

alexdgr8 · 01/05/2021 20:37

yes, he should get attendance allowance.
you are doing marvellously.
wish i'd had someone like you around when i was trying to deal with these kind of things.
and even now, re my own, still muddled, apprehensive of change.
it may seem silly to younger people, but these things can seem too difficult, risky, even to those of us who are meant to be compos mentis.

JudgeRindersMinder · 01/05/2021 21:00

So there’s work needing done on the house and your MIL has over the savings limit? Wasn’t there an agreement between her and fil that she’d use some of her investments to pay for them....it’s not deprivation of assets if she’s going to benefit from it.

Comefromaway · 03/05/2021 15:09

argh! Can I claim against my gas bill considering fil just came to pick dh up for a care home visit, used our downstairs loo and left the hot tap running for over 2 hours!

OP posts:
Comefromaway · 03/05/2021 15:10

Joke by the way.

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 04/05/2021 07:29

@Comefromaway

argh! Can I claim against my gas bill considering fil just came to pick dh up for a care home visit, used our downstairs loo and left the hot tap running for over 2 hours!
Aagh! We've done that a couple f times, except in our case overnight. (Think our tap jiggles itself open if it's no fully turned off). I'm glad to say the impact on monthly gas usage has not been perceptible.
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