Care home fees between spouses

[Anotherlamp]

My dad has been in a care home for the last year and his fees have been going out of my parents’ joint account. My mum wants to divide up their money as if from the point at which he went into care last year, so that his fees have only come from his half. This seems fair to me, but is this normal? Once they have split their money, my dad’s share will only be around £23000, so the level that government help kicks in. What is the normal way to manage the joint account when paying fees please? My mum has just opened another account for him, but it seems that it would have been better for her to do this when he first went in (although at that point we hoped it would only be short term).

She can split the money in half now from the captial currently in the account, but if she takes half backdated to when he went into care it would be seen as deprivation of assets.

Thank you @Stinkybrambles , it’s a shame we didn’t realise this earlier as it will leave things quite tight for my mum, maintaining her home by herself.

Would that still be the case if she could produce bank statements showing exactly what was in the account when he went into care? And then went through statement by statement identifying what was “hers” (half that amount, adjusted for payments out for upkeep of her and the house, plus her income) and what was “his” (his half, adjusted for payments to care home and things brought for him, and for his income)?

There was a poster on here whose parents fees were paid out of a joint savings account, say £100,000. When the account got down to £73000 - other parent’s £50,000 still intact, parent in care down to £23,000 so eligible for LA contribution, but the LA still treated the joint account as owned equally. They’d have had to get down to £46000 before the LA would concede parent in care had reached the level for LA contribution.

So it does seem important to disentangle any joint savings immediately after the first assessment. (Not before, in case of any deprivation of assets accusation).

Both my parents were in a care home, fees paid from the joint account. Let's say there was 48k left. So nearly at the point of being at the limit each.

One DP suddenly died and the other then had loads left.

Should have spilt the account into two as they went into the care home but we just didn't think of it.

Are they married?

That's not the same as splitting the money 50/50 as at the date they entered care, which would benefit the mother much more than what you are suggesting. It wouldn't Hurt to approach the council with the request. It wouldn't be normal practice but they would have to consider the request.

I would have thought once you made a adjustment for household and the mothers expenditure that the father won't be quite down to the £23,250 threshold but the mother may be in a slightly better position in this scenario so it may be worth approaching the council.

They should've split it at the point he went in. The finance team at the council I work for won't backdate.

Ask for a financial assessment. Complete this, explaining that at the point of admission your parents joint assets were £X. Mother's half share is £X/2 and father's care fees have been paid from "his half" leaving him £X-care fees The local authority I work for (giving legal advice to social workers) would accept that. The fact mother didn't split at the time of admission to care is immaterial, it's the value of each partner's beneficial interest that counts. If they don't accept this, ask for a review. If the review doesn't achieve the outcome you seek, complain. Good luck.

Thank you all so much for these comments. It probably is a bit up to chance depending on local area, but I will look into a financial assessment. I imagine it won’t change things, but always worth checking.

I don’t believe this is the case. It’s her asset, not his. She could have legitimately done this as soon as he went into care and nobody would have been able to stop her.
OP, what she needs to do is look at how much was in the account at the point he went into care, half it, subtract what she has spent on herself from one half then put the remainder of her half into an account in her own name.
eg
balance when DF went into care = £50000
her half - £25000
her spending since that point = £10000
balance into her own account = £15000

She needs to ensure that all direct debits etc that pertain to her living in the family home come out of her own account from now on, plus any pension shes in receipt of is paid into this account and that all the care home fees plus his pension and attendance allowance etc go into the joint account.

Once his savings fall to about £26K, he will need another financial assessment as he will still have to pay towards his care home on a sliding scale. Make sure your DM gets copies of the bank statements from the point at which he went into care to when the new financial assessment is done.

In my very recent experience of dealing with the finance team at the LA for my stepfather, they’re clueless!
what she needs to do is split the accounts now, before completing any financial assessment. Don’t go to them and say ‘please can I do this’. It would be then up to their legal team to justify why this is ‘deprivation of assets’ and they wouldn’t be able to do so.