Advice re how to own

[Sunshine6195102]

Could anyone give any advice please. Sister and I sold a property we inherited. My mum is also selling her property. We are combining the proceeds of both and going to buy a property which our mother will live in for the rest of her life near both of us and our families (she is currently 65, and in case it makes any difference she is disabled and receives disability benefits (PIP and ESA)). Can anyone recommend how it is best to own the property please? Our mum is keen for my sister and I to own it to protect it/our inheritance should she need to one day go into a care home for example. Thank you.

Could you own a third of the property each as tenants in common? If your mum has money she should really be using it to pay for her care if needed but this way you would protect what you have put in.

It would be important to take proper legal advice. Have you enough money to buy the property in cash or will there be a mortgage?

But AFAIK the most straightforward way would be to own it as tenants in common between the 3 of you, with the % shares reflecting the amounts you each put in. If your mum does need residential care in future she will have to contribute down to the savings threshold, but it should then only be from her share of the property and not you and your sister's share. You could get into more complicated things where you and your sister own the house, or you put it into a trust and she pays you or the trust a fair market rent but that gets much more complicated from a tax and benefits point of view and also could possibly risk being seen as deprivation of assets if she's effectively given you both a large lump sum. Or if you want to avoid having to sell the house even if she no longer lives there and you can afford to buy it without her contributing at all, you and sister can own the house, make arrangements to ensure she has a lifetime right to reside there and then invest the proceeds of the sale of the house which will then be available as a contribution to the costs of her future care?

Get legal advice but be wary of anyone who tells you that you can protect your inheritance from care fees or similar
If your Mum was fit and well then setting up things to do that might work but if her current health means that she is likely to need care at some point even if its years away The Council could still come after you.
They are ways to mitigate these things but its not as simple as putting things in someone elses name and/or giving money away

I agree with pp, own % as tenants in common and with a deed of trust. Your conveyancing solicitor should be able to do this as part of the purchase.

Make sure the deed of trust sets out what happens if any one of you needs to sell. Think about worst case scenarios like if you or your sister die does your Mum have a life interest, what happens if you become disabled and need the money. Life can throw up complications, thinking about them
now can make it easier in the long run.

If your mother needs care and the local authority believes she sold and/or signed over an asset in order to avoid paying for care fees they may well proceed as if she still had the asset and charge her anyway.

Oh good, another thread about avoiding care home fees and inheritance tax.

Thank you very much all. @cakeandteaandcakethat seems a little harsh. We aren’t trying to avoid potentially paying care home fees…we just want to protect our inheritance and investment and not pay inheritance tax that we can potentially avoid. There’s nothing wrong with that.

There inheritance will never be used for her mum’s care home fees. It’s their money. It isn’t their mum’s money. Never was their mum’s money. The council cannot take her children’s money to pay for her care home. They can only use the mum’s money or share in the house. Their inheritance is 100% safe.

The easiest way to do it is to not take any money from your mum. You and you sister buy the property and own is as tenants in common. Your mum keeps her money in the bank. If she needs care, then they can use her money and you won’t need to sell the house as that’s yours and nothing to do with paying for her care.

If your mum puts money into this house and the 3 of you own as tenants in common then, if she needs care, they can force the sale of the house to get her share of the money out for the care home fees.

If you would sell the house anyway, then that won’t matter but if you didn’t want to sell or your mum wanted to stay in the house and pay for carers to come in, then she won’t have that option as it’ll have to be sold to access the money.

Or are you talking about trying to keep your mum’s money from her own house sale protected from paying for care homes? That’s deprivation of assets. You can’t just take her money to buy a house in your name and then say she has nothing to pay for care home fees if needed. They’ll investigate and can take the money back.

It’s only inheritance once her mother is dead. Until then it’s her mother’s assets.

If you would sell the house anyway, then that won’t matter but if you didn’t want to sell or your mum wanted to stay in the house and pay for carers to come in, then she won’t have that option as it’ll have to be sold to access the money.

Value of the property isn’t taken into account when calculating contributions towards domiciliary care.

No, her and her sister have inherited a house from someone else and are going to use the proceeds of that house to buy together. That has nothing to do with her mother’s money. They can absolutely protect that from fees even if their mother lives in the house.
Her mum is putting in her own share to the house and that’s the only part of the money that can be used for care.

If they are trying to find a way to protect her mother’s money as well then that’s avoidance and she will find it hard to get away with.

You’re quite right, I’d missed that at the start of the post!