Avoid care home fees by divorcing!

[champchomp]

I know this sounds extreme but I’m thinking ahead. DH is a bit older than me and is having some health problems. We have no mortgage and he has a good pension and savings. I’ve seen instances where a spouse has entered a care home and the other one has struggled to pay the fees and had to sell up and use all the savings. Hypothetically speaking would divorcing and splitting assets protect some of the money and property. I know anything could happen between now and if my husband needs care but it worries me and we have children we would like to help financially if need be. I’d always be there for DH no matter what and visa versa. But financially does it make sense to financially separate/divorce if care is needed for either of us?

And this is part of the reason why the country is in such a mess , people expecting the state to pay for their care or their parents care then moaning when the councils have no money for street cleaning or to fund schools properly. The cost of looking after the old people in this country is becoming a problem yet no one wants to lose their inheritance .

In my opinion , which isn’t always liked , you have a mortgage on your home for when you’re going through life then you sell it to pay for your last home . No one is entitled to inheritance !

The home is disregarded if one person is staying in the home. It’s just their savings that will be used. So anything in their bank/savings/ISA - joint accounta are split in half

This was my understanding too

Care home fees are based on a 50:50 split of assets for a married couple. So 1 spouse's property cannot be used or sold for the other spous's costs.
OP you are basing your fears on misinformation.
Speak to AGE UK and ask them to to explain all the rules. Then make an appointment with an estate planner (not a solicitor). Check that both you and your partner have done your wills and POAs correctly and that you are tenants in common not joint tenants.
It is perfectly reasonable to expect to pay the correct amount for personal care. Everyone should plan for illness and old age.
Make sure your dc are involved in all the planning and that they know where all the paperwork is.
You need to educate yourself now and check everything.
Social services and care homes are not renowned for getting things right.
The home my friend's dh was in was discovered to be claiming the , admittedly very small, nursing element of the fees, but not deducting it from the amount paid by the clients. So around £150 per month per self funder extra profit.
Self funders are already paying around 2 x what the state pays for state funded clients, so you do have to scrutinise everything.

I can't believe ( well I can because these threads are all similar) the amount of inaccurate advice/ opinion on this thread. What people think/ assume/ believe / have heard really isn't the best basis for legal and financial planning.
Just for example, a legally employed live in carer is a very expensive option and they must have a separate bexroom and bathroom for their own use. They need annual leave, days off, a proper salary, NI contributions, insurance and home office checks.

Do people realise that self-funders pay way more than the council would pay for the same care?

Well it should be common knowledge because it has been the case for decades. The information is freely available from a variety of sources.
However, it seems that people don't make the effort to find out.

OP states that they have seen spouses having to sell up to pay fees. That should never happen because it isn't legal, UNLESS the person has already committed fraud/ hidden assets.

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/

Here you are OP. Everything you need to know is here.

People who don’t have savings/large assets haven’t necessarily ‘lived off the state’ OP. I was on your side until I saw that comment.

You wouldn't pay care home fees if you look after him yourself. In sickness and in health.
Does DH know you are planning to dump him off one way or another?¹

Because you don’t seem to have any idea how things actually work.

Please don’t make any decisions without professional advice as currently your plan will make you both worse off.

The fact that you’re ignoring the posts informing you of this doesn’t make your thread more credible.

My mum is going into a home next week, we have applied for Continuing Healthcare to cover her fees, otherwise it will be £1400 a week. It is awful, we effectively lost her at the beginning of October, she went in hospital with a simple UTI which has caused delirium & further infections have taken more & more of her memory & caused behavioural problems like her being violent, throwing things at the staff, shouting & swearing, she was 14 stone when she went in & is now just over 6 stone. It feels awful to confess we have been hoping one of the infections would give her a peaceful end but she keeps on fighting them off. I have always promised her that I wouldn't put her in a home, I feel so guilty.

https://cles.org.uk/news/private-equity-firms-taking-millions-in-profits-from-care-sector-each-year-new-analysis-reveals/

Go and get professional help from a solicitor with this now, you can set out your estate so that you are protected

do you already have a will and OOA set up?

This isn’t really fair. There are many women who are in such poor health themselves they cannot adequately look after their partner: my partner’s mother is partially disabled and small, and her husband is obese, diabetic and very stubborn. She’s injured herself trying to care for him, and left him in a dangerous situation on more than one occasion.

As for my parents, my dad died within 5 months of cancer in his early 60s. She tried so hard but she’s also suffering from the aftermath of cancer and in the end agreed to use hospice carers, but not before my father injured her (she was hospitalised) forcing her to carry him around because he was too proud for help.

Has she got a DNAR in place?
Have you got POA?
Continuing health care funding is almost impossible to get. I know many, many people who applied for it, but only one who actually qualified and he was relatively young - 50s - and had vascular dementia. He had to be in a secure (locked) private psychiatric facility. It took over a year for the claim to be approved.
If your mother's financial assessment identifies that she has the funds, her money will be used until she has £23K left, then the state will take over.
I am so sorry, it is an absolutely awful situation.

This is exactly what you have savings for. About 20-30 per cent will need it. Lucky for those who can pass it on but you surely are saving to ensure your final days are actually comfortable instead in a state funded care home ?

This

There are almost no state funded care homes in England. The rest of the UK might be different. They are mostly privatised now and the majority take a mixture of self funding and state funded clients.
The self funders pay roughly twice as much as the state pays for the state funded clients. The care is the same.
The really expensive private homes don't take state funded clients.

Someone will pay. It'll just be everyone else.

I mean, they do. There's a lot of it on here over time. In that way, this forum is quite eye-opening.

And is your partner's mother writing on Mumsnet saying should she divorce her DH to avoid care costs. Did your mum think about divorcing your dad when he was diagnosed?
I'm simply replying to OP's hypothetical predicament.

No
They only use half of the joint money
My mum went through this
Her half of everything wasn't touched , because obviously she would need it for her care ,and she did

That’s why year after year council tax increases and everyone moans when nothing gets repaired. The council are useless gets banned about continuously- it’s not the council it useless, it’s that all the money we pay in c/tax goes to the greedy equity firms. Until people stop blaming the council and start pointing the finger at the real culprits, nothing will change. The equity firms take your inheritance