What happens financially when an elderly persons requires full time care,

[Yumyo]

I am expecting that this may happen with one or both of my parents in the next few years. They a have a good monthly pension. And own their own house which is worth approximately 300k
we are in Scotland if that makes any difference

what happens about paying for care? If one can still stay at home. How is care paid for? I assume this must be a position a lot of people find themselves

@PropertyManager the over 65 thing - is that Scotland because I thought it is over 60 in England?

You are correct, it's 60, not 65!!

Strange arbitrary figure!! but there it is

Should that be a week?

No that was monthly (actually to be accurate it was 4 weekly)

I'm assuming its top up fees over the government contribution

Yes that’s right, perhaps I didn’t make that clear and we are also in Scotland where I think the fees are generally lower.

That's very low. Is that Scotland (and if so, it would help the OP if you can explain a bit more about the government contribution), or were they below the self-funding threshold, or getting CHC?

There is a Scotsnet section on Mumsnet. There are a lot of friendly people there who may be able to help.

That’s really helpful for the OP to know. I wasn’t aware of this and it didn’t apply in our case as my fil had already passed and my bil was neither over 65 or under 18.

My Nan has dementia. Her home costs 1.6k per week.
her house got sold to fund it.

For Scotland this is a very helpful site: careinfoscotland.scot/

Also Age Scotland: www.agescotland.org.uk/

As a pp said if your parents don't have power of attorney set up for each other (plus possibly you) get them to do the asap. Otherwise if one loses capacity it becomes too late and you end up having to apply for guardianship, which is a very slow process. And ensure finances are not all in the name of one person wherever possible (not possible with ISAs). If you start shifting around money if/once one of them needs a nursing home this is regarded as depravation of assets and so many be too late.

My understanding is that if either parent had to go into a nursing home if they have savings over the threshold (which your parents do) they will have to pay until they reach this level (on the basis of half of the savings - they don't have to pay until the assets of the other one are also exhausted, fortunately!). If one parent still lives at home the house is disregarded.

See careinfoscotland.scot/topics/care-homes/paying-care-home-fees/capital-limits/ for more on this.

It's all pretty complicated - so definitely worth getting advice from Age Scotland and people who have experience of the situation. This post only really scratches the surface!

Very good advice

assuming OP your parents have capacity, the following are all good ideas

1/ split up savings so they are not in joint names, they should be broadly 50/50 to avoid falling foul of deprivation rules.

2/ sever joint tenants to tenants in common

3/ each parent wills their share to the children with a life interest for the survivor

4/ get power of attorney for health and finances

5/ you could consider buying 1% of your parents home from them at market value (£3000 in your case), this would make you a Tennant in common with them, this is a valuable tool, because no DPA charging order can be placed without the signatures of all tenants, this makes sure they don't unwittingly make a bad decision.

6/ when it comes to it, do not sign anything in respect of care until first speaking to a legal professional and reading the sections of the care act on disregarded property - local authority social workers push to get DPAs signed, sadly many people void their right to a mandatory disregard by signing such documents.

DPAs are not always a bad thing, but its a massive thing to sign and people often do it without the full facts.

Speak to a solicitor about having their house as tenants in common rather than joint ownership.
if they don’t want to pay for ALL their care they can only take the value of half (or set proportion) of the house.
of course one may want to pay everything to look after the other … but it could/would protect some equity.

Age Concern website has everything you need to know expressed very clearly and concisely .... it really is the go-to place as you get accurate information.

I’m in England and a many years ago my neighbours at the time both had Wills the wife stated in the Will that the house must not be sold until after the death of her husband and his was vice versa the wife died first and after a number of years the husband had to go in to a care home and the house sat empty (son would pop round maintain the house and gardens) the care home did try to push the son but because of the Will the house could not be sold definitely do your research in to all options.

Thanks, maybe there was some confusion but what I said was that after my stepmother went into a care home my father lived in the house but it was sold after he died (in fact to all intents and purposes he did move out three years before to live with us but still liked to visit occasionally so he kept the house on).

You said “They sent regular invoices so he knew what was the current amount owing, and the house was sold and bill settled.” which I understood to mean that they were charging you more than was affordable out of her own income and personal savings, so you were running up a bill to be paid from the sale of the house which should not be the case. While your father was still in the house, her contribution should have been calculated on the basis of her pension income and any bank or building society savings she had. The house should not have come into the assessment until he had moved out.

Possibly NK5f4’s parents qualified for the Scottish national care home rate which is around £800-£900 per week and can apply if their Council assesses their moveable assets below £23,500?

OP, Check the Care Information Scotland website - It is reasonably good.
If you need clarification, you could call their Council’s social work department and ask to speak to someone in the financial team within elderly care. They might not get back to you immediately but I’ve found them to be v helpful.

Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as that as her assets were frozen due to her being incapacitated and him not having LPA for her. So the council covered the cost until such time as they died.

Also, I mean that the house was sold after my Dad died.

After reading your post @PropertyManager I was forced to look up DPA to see it what it meant: a Deferred Payment Agreement. I feel a bit thick. DM's Council had a 'charge' against DM's house for nearly nine years and I never knew that was what it was actually called.

For anyone having a 'charge' put against their parent's home can I say that it is really quite an easy procedure, hugely helped if you can put your hands on your parents' 'title deeds'.

Just adding that one to your list OP of preparations. Know where their title deeds are kept!

Nowadays though, I don't think it would be prudent to buy a 1% share in anyone's property as it would potentially make you incur a second home tax.

Ah, that makes sense. I was worried that they were trying to take money based on the value of the home when they shouldn’t have been.

Whilst all the points @PropertyManager made are valid, if they are done after it’s clear someone will need to pay for care in order to avoid paying they could be deemed as deprivation of assets.