Continuing my dad's wish to pay uni tuition fees for his grandkids

[falstaff1980]

My father had been doing this the last few years, paying the £9250 into a 5-year-fixed account for my kids each September, the intention being that when they matured my (by-then mid-twenties) kids could either pay off the tuition fees or use the money for some other sensible purpose ("not buying an expensive car" my dad said specifically to them), I think he had in mind a deposit for a first house/flat.

Sadly my dad was ill and passed away last September. My mother said she still wants to continue paying this (my two younger kids have 1 year, and 2 years left at uni respectively, the eldest graduated last year and so got the whole 3 years of fees).

The reasons I'm hesitating on this is:

1. My mother has MCI, possibly early stage dementia, I have an LPA, but feel uncomfortable paying this from her account when I know my mother is no longer able to remember how much money she has. If she was 100% well I'd leave it to her to sort out with my kids.
2. She might need that money herself for care costs, she has over £200k in savings (plus the house she owns and lives in), and since she's already needing some low-level care, giving away nearly £30k could be seen as deprivation of assets.
3. I don't know how this will go down with my sister, who has no children and has not been well herself. I'm not even sure she knew that our dad had been doing this before, it was something he sorted out direct with my kids.

Any thoughts and opinions welcome.

@MereDintofPandiculation , nursing. If assessed as eligible for nursing care under the CHC checklist, the home receives funded nursing care from the NHS in addition to the private fees. Don't forget that self funders in residential and nursing care are also entitled to higher rate Attendance Allowance from the DWP.

I wasn't talking about CHC funding, I was talking about NHS funded nuring care. Do they both use the same checklist?

I would also put the money in their accounts.

There's a tax implication for the person who gives the gifts

Each individual only has £3,000 pa total (IIRC) that they can give with no tax concerns.

Are you aware of this?

Related to inheritance tax specifically

www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts#:~:text=Annual%20exemption,£3%2C000%20between%20several%20people.

Yes, pretty sure they do

£1k a week is quite cheap for nursing, I think?

We weren't even looking at nursing and nothing was that cheap

Residential care is about £50k a year, she has £200k in savings as well as the house value. In addition she has her pension, and as a self funder should receive another £5k in higher rate attendance allowance. So not sure about your maths.

But that’s only if they are likely to run into IHT. She has a £325k allowance, plus any of her husband’s allowance that he didn’t use, plus more if main residence is left to children.

Thanks everyone, based on all the comments I've decided not to do this, best I can do is try to help them myself when they get to the age where these fixed-interest accounts would have matured.

This link was helpful about gift giving for attorneys:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-gifts-a-guide-for-deputies-and-attorneys/opg2-giving-gifts-for-someone-else-web-version

It just doesn't feel right to do this given my mother's state. It would be different if she was remembering she hadn't done this, and was pro-actively asking me to help her do the bank transfers, and also telling my sister herself that she wanted to do this.

As for paying off the fees, yep, I looked at moneysavingexpert in 2019 when my dad announced he wanted to pay their tuition fees, and explained to him that putting the money in fixed term accounts would be better.

This is a minefield and I think you’re right to hold off.

Inheritance tax not going to be an issue as your mum gets 2x allowance.

One option is to give an inheritance now - so mum allows a variation of the will and gives a ‘gift’ from Dad of £35000 from her inheritance. But anyone likely to be affected (ie your sister) has to agree and I think I’d be uncomfortable asking.

In the end that money is for mum’s well being and should be ring fenced for her. Your children have had enormous benefit already.

I wonder what LAs think of a variation of a will whereby you deprive yourself of an inheritance or part of one that would otherwise have come to you?