Finances for care home

[ElizabethVonArnim]

Does anyone know what happens if the elderly person is the home owner but someone else lives with them when a care home place becomes necessary?

DP's mum is getting more and more frail and needs constant care (she is blind and has had some nasty falls and regularly spills things if left alone in a room). DP's sister lives with her and takes care of her very well, but is showing signs of significant carer fatigue now.

If DP's mum does eventually agree to move into residential care - which she absolutely does not want at the moment - what will happen to her house? DP's sister has lived there for a decade or so and it is her only home. Will the house need to be sold to pay for care, or will the council take the money out of probate when DP's mum eventually dies?

While DP's sister lives at home and takes care of her mum, DP's mum absolutely could continue to live at home, but this is to the detriment of DP's sister's mental health and also any other work she could do - she has no pension etc as she has not been earning. DP's mum currently refuses to discuss a care home and unless DP's sister moves out and refuses to act as her carer, there's no need for a care placement. It feels very complex and difficult and emotionally charged at the moment.

Any information or experiences of this kind of situation would be greatly appreciated.

How old is the sister?

If the other person in the house is a spouse or partner, the house is automatically disregarded in funding calculations. For any other adult I think there's an age cut off - disregarded if over a certain age (60?).

she has no pension etc as she has not been earning.

Separate point from your actual.question - but a very important one. Has she been keeping up NI payments or received NI credits to ensure she at least gets the full state pension? She may qualify for credits if she's claiming carer's allowance (which she certainly should be if she's doing so much care she's unable to work).

The LA will disregard the house if a spouse is still living there. If your SiL is under 60, the house would have to be sold to pay care home fees. While she is still caring for her mother social services will let her get on with it. Does anyone have Lasting Power of Attorney?

I strongly recommend that OP contacts https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/
and asks for advice. This forum is run by carers and ex-carers - they are a wonderful source of accurate information and advice having been there, done that and reluctantly got the t-shirt.

Thanks everyone. I spoke to someone at Age UK this afternoon and they said that the local authority has the discretion to treat an adult child (she's not yet 60) living as a household with a parent as if they are a partner, which would mean that they would disregard the house when calculating assets. I'd be astonished if this actually happens but they seemed confident that it is worth asking.

I'll try to find out re NI contributions. I imagine not but I don't know.