Hello, I'm new to this board and this whole situation, so sorry if this all sounds a bit confused!
My grandparent is in their 80s and has quite advanced vascular dementia. There's been a significant deterioration recently and they need to move from home to a care home with specialist dementia support.
There is space in a suitable private care home and a plan for 2 weeks of respite care as a trial.
If the move is permanent, they will need to self fund and their home will need to be sold to pay for the care home fees.
What are the financial options for this? My understanding is that my mum has applied for financial and welfare Power of Attorney but that it hasn't come through yet and will be at least another month. My grandparent definitely does not have capacity to make decisions about the house sale at this point. And also not to re-sign PoA paperwork if there are any issues with it.
I understand that a "Deferred Payment Agreement" is possible - is this used while waiting for a house to sell? This seems to be the only option as there aren't other assets, but are there financial risks? I think the local authority will offer 3 months' deferred payment; the care home itself about a year. What kind of interest rates are usually charged for these? And what if the house isn't sold in that period?
Also, I think a PoA would also need to be in place to progress with a DPA? How is this handled while waiting for the PoA?
Finally, as a hopefully avoided worst case scenario, what happens if there is no PoA in the long term? How is care paid for in that case? Do you have to get a Welfare Guardian appointed (yikes)?
Grandparent lives in England. I'm in Scotland, so may have used some Scottish legal terms by mistake! And apologies if this sounds rather dry and clinical - it's quite a lot to deal with as a family, so just trying to get my head round the practical stuff!