Care home fees when husband owns our house.

[nahthatsnotforme]

We have been married 40 plus years. My Dh owns our house; I have never been on the mortgage ( now paid)/ deeds and never felt I needed to be. I still don't, and this isn't the point of this thread

But we are getting older and thoughts have turned to old age a potentially care fees

If he needs care he owns a property but I live here... what then?

If I need care I don't have a property to sell.

Should we make changes? I should add that DH will do whatever is best for both of us.. there is no question of it being 'his' in any way but legally.

Yes, OP, please listen to the others who said protect yourself and get added to the deeds, any deeds on any property your husband might own.

I'm 45, married for 20 years and it took my husband 16 years to add me to the deeds if his (massive) property portfolio.
Understandable, but then I kept my own assets secure, together with a substantial "escape fund", that was never needed.
Doesn't hurt to put yourself first. (No kids).

Get the deeds sorted!
😊

Sorry @soontobe60, I meant once the partner in care dies.

It seems like the survivor can't be made to sell the home to pay any care fees as long as they still live there, but what happens if the survivor needs to move and having to pay the fees means they couldn't afford this?

This is just my reading of things, but it seems to me that

1. While a partner is living in the house it's disregarded in the LA assessment.
2. If DH passes before OP moves out there will be no fees to pay. The fees to date were the responsibility of the LA because the house was disregarded.
3. If the OP moves out while DH is still in care then the LA would do a new assessment based on the financial position at that point. The new house will still be disregarded if it's jointly owned but any surplus released will be up for consideration.

If this is right then I don't see how having to pay fees could stop someone moving. There will be no past fees to pay at the point the house is sold. But I can't work out what would happen if the whole of the surplus was put into the new property. You might just be back in the same position with the house being disregarded, but equally if you've put all the funds into it to avoid spending them on care home fees then it's deprivation of assets. It's not a chance I'd want to take without specialist legal advice. Preferably paid for advice so that you'd have some come back if anything goes wrong.

You really need to pick up the phone and call the Age UK advice line @nahthatsnotforme . Because this thread is getting really confusing.
I can't speak highly enough about the advice line. I've had a different issue regarding my late mum's care debt, and they've been so knowledgeable and helpful, and explained it all in a way I could understand, because all the research I'd done had just confused me.