Elderly people losing their home to pay for care

[tunstallhill]

anyone got experience of this? say for instance a single person, on a state pension who paid off their mortgage many years ago and intends to leave it to their kids..

will the Local Authority seize the property and sell it themselves for a fair price? or take that person to court to force them to sell?

I understand that care home costs will be paid for by the persons savings/estate until there is only £23k remaining, at which point the LA will pay for care?

i think i'd always assumed that care homes for the elderly were paid for through their lifetime of national insurance contributions

 

[Boz33]

Pretty much how it works, they’ll go into a home stay till they pop their clogs then a bill is sent for the cost from their estate
A mate has just went thru it for his ma, 3 years in a home…. 86k

This is why everyone tries and squirrels it away before the time for homes come etc but there’s no guarantees the council won’t still chase it

 

[EDGE]

anyone got experience of this? say for instance a single person, on a state pension who paid off their mortgage many years ago and intends to leave it to their kids..

will the Local Authority seize the property and sell it themselves for a fair price? or take that person to court to force them to sell?

I understand that care home costs will be paid for by the persons savings/estate until there is only £23k remaining, at which point the LA will pay for care?

i think i'd always assumed that care homes for the elderly were paid for through their lifetime of national insurance contributions

The LA are not seizing it for themselves. It will be used to fund the social care.

 

[dangermows]

Presumably the person hasn't knocked anything up so the property is already in different hands? If not their assets/cash will burned at an alarming rate sadly.

Edit. Friend of the family sold their property to help fund it. Not sure if this was forced. Think you get a few months to sort how you pay as house value isnt initially factored in. Sale of the kip is one option.

 

[Ned Land]

I think that I might sell everything when I’m older and then rent somewhere abroad.

Obviously you can’t plan your lifespan, but I’ve worked so that I can leave something behind, but now I’m thinking of spunking more £££ on myself while I can.

The dilemma for me is that I was raised to be frugal as we weren’t spoiled as kids and we had to work for what we had. Even now I only buy what I can afford when I need to replace something.

 

[tunstallhill]

The LA are not seizing it for themselves. It will be used to fund the social care.

thats what i mean, how do they use the house to pay for care if they don't seize it and sell it themselves? do they legally force the person to sell it themselves?

going through the process of selling a house doesn't seem like something that someone who needs to be in a care home should be expected to undertake themselves surely?

Presumably the person hasn't knocked anything up so the property is already in different hands? If not their assets/cash will burned at an alarming rate sadly.

Edit. Friend of the family sold their property to help fund it. Not sure if this was forced. Think you get a few months to sort how you pay as house value isnt initially factored in. Sale of the kip is one option.

well its in her will to leave 50/50 between her kids, but aye everything is still in her name.

 

[dangermows]

well its in her will to leave 50/50 between her kids, but aye everything is still in her name.

No good sir unless there are other options to pay the cost. iirc if there aren't other options you'll be given a period of time to sell the house.

Edit. This might be useful. References deferred payment. Where the sale of house at a later date will be used to cover the bill.

Do I have to sell my home to pay for care? | Age UK

We explain the means test and property and when you have to sell your home to pay for care. Find out more information from Age UK. Read now.

www.ageuk.org.uk

 

[Quench]

You can put your house into a trust to try and prevent the LA from getting their hands on the value of it when you pop your clogs. I'm not sure how water tight these are and the extent to which an LA would pursue it, I guess it depends on the value of the property versus the likely legal costs.

My Mam is in a care home, she has Alzheimer's, and I think the cost is about £900 per week. Worth every penny, she is very well looked after and physically is in better health than when she lived at home with support.

I hope to have exited the stage before I reach that stage. My kids have been advised to push me off the nearest cliff should I develop dementia, although sometimes when. I see the look in their eyes I think I might regret saying it

 

[Jacksnuts]

I live with my mam and dad now after a divorce
The house is paid for so all in my dads name and he has £23k + in savings
My mam is getting closer and closer to needing to go in a home
When she does surely they can’t make me and my dad homeless to fund the care?

 

[buster]

One of the woman at graft was complaining a few years ago that HER inheritance was being used to fund her mothers care in the last years of her life .

It was all about her loss of inheritance rather than the comfort and care for her mother.

 

[NeilP]

There is a financial assessment done when the person is taken into a care home. All of that persons assets, home, pension, savings, investments can be used to fund the care. A figure is produced and documents are signed enabling the care home to make use of all that money until approx 23K is left, at which point that 23K becomes the inheritance. My mum has been taken into care and she is devastated that she will be leaving hardly anything after never taking any state benefit in her life

The weekly cost of the care is declared and so that is multiplied by the time in care to get a final cost upon death. If the person dies quickly then most of the estate still goes as inheritance to the family etc, but the sum goes down weekly at the weekly cost until the 23K is reached.

Hardly anyone else in the care home had their own home. They get free or reduced care cost. It's a sore point.

 

[Boz33]

thats what i mean, how do they use the house to pay for care if they don't seize it and sell it themselves? do they legally force the person to sell it themselves?

going through the process of selling a house doesn't seem like something that someone who needs to be in a care home should be expected to undertake themselves surely?


well its in her will to leave 50/50 between her kids, but aye everything is still in her name.

It’s after they go, so see it as the bill piles up then the estate pays it once they are gone, council I assume covers it with the care home short term if it’s a council rum place, no idea about private, the house may need to sold to cover the bills on an ongoing way like paying rent at the nursing home

I guess the house could be sold before hand then the bill is covered from the sale money and then paid monthly until they get down to the threshold then it’s free

And if they are in a half decent private care home once the funds are gone it may well be they have to move if the costs of the private home outweigh what the council will fund when they run outta cash

There is a financial assessment done when the person is taken into a care home. All of that persons assets, home, pension, savings, investments can be used to fund the care. A figure is produced and documents are signed enabling the care home to make use of all that money until approx 23K is left, at which point that 23K becomes the inheritance. My mum has been taken into care and she is devastated that she will be leaving hardly anything after never taking any state benefit in her life

The weekly cost of the care is declared and so that is multiplied by the time in care to get a final cost upon death. If the person dies quickly then most of the estate still goes as inheritance to the family etc, but the sum goes down weekly at the weekly cost until the 23K is reached.

Hardly anyone else in the care home had their own home. They get free or reduced care cost. It's a sore point.

What other solution is there? Same as anything the cost has to be covered. So it’s either thru peoples assets or make a general tax of say 20k or a % straight away off everyone’s estate whether they use care home or not before they die

 

[STHLM]

I live with my mam and dad now after a divorce
The house is paid for so all in my dads name and he has £23k + in savings
My mam is getting closer and closer to needing to go in a home
When she does surely they can’t make me and my dad homeless to fund the care?

As I understand it, each parent is assessed individually. So I think it would be based on your mother's income and any assets that are in her name. So a joint account would mean half the money in the account would be hers. I assume the house would not be her asset as it's not in her name.

 

[Patch]

There is a financial assessment done when the person is taken into a care home. All of that persons assets, home, pension, savings, investments can be used to fund the care. A figure is produced and documents are signed enabling the care home to make use of all that money until approx 23K is left, at which point that 23K becomes the inheritance. My mum has been taken into care and she is devastated that she will be leaving hardly anything after never taking any state benefit in her life

The weekly cost of the care is declared and so that is multiplied by the time in care to get a final cost upon death. If the person dies quickly then most of the estate still goes as inheritance to the family etc, but the sum goes down weekly at the weekly cost until the 23K is reached.

Hardly anyone else in the care home had their own home. They get free or reduced care cost. It's a sore point.

Just to add insult to injury, the rate paid by the LA for those unable to fund their own care is lower than the rate paid by those funding their own care. So, not only are they paying for their own care, they're subsidising the care of those who've made no provision for old age.

 

[Heritage hampers]

It's a disgrace

 

[Patch]

One of the woman at graft was complaining a few years ago that HER inheritance was being used to fund her mothers care in the last years of her life .

It was all about her loss of inheritance rather than the comfort and care for her mother.

TBF, I'd imagine the old lady feels equally aggrieved that the money she had hoped to leave her child/children is being eaten away.

 

[Goat Eyes]

As I understand it, each parent is assessed individually. So I think it would be based on your mother's income and any assets that are in her name. So a joint account would mean half the money in the account would be hers. I assume the house would not be her asset as it's not in her name.

I agree, they won’t be able to make your dad sell I doubt.

How much board are you paying? That might take them over the threshold.

 

[Select coaches]

I’d rather have an indoor bbq than go in a nursing home.

 

[Dark Traveller]

anyone got experience of this? say for instance a single person, on a state pension who paid off their mortgage many years ago and intends to leave it to their kids..

will the Local Authority seize the property and sell it themselves for a fair price? or take that person to court to force them to sell?

I understand that care home costs will be paid for by the persons savings/estate until there is only £23k remaining, at which point the LA will pay for care?

i think i'd always assumed that care homes for the elderly were paid for through their lifetime of national insurance contributions

Going off my memory from last year when I had to move my Mam into a Care Home, I had to have a budget meeting with Social Care/Services to work out all monies my Mam had coming in a view to work out how much we had to pay towards her care in the Home.

We sat and went through all income, state pension, savings, etc. If they have more than £15k in savings that will be used in the care package that is put together, fortunately as Mam and Dad's savings were tied together, they halved the savings, so because savings came to something like £14,000. They used a figure of £7k for Mam.

Went it came to the house itself, because the title deeds were in all three of our names, that was discounted from the final costings as it couldn't be touched because it wasn't solely in Mam's name.

Because Mam didn't have any other form of income or savings etc, other than her state pension that was the Social Carer based her costings on. So for our contribution towards the Care Home fees, which majority of which was paid for by Council, we had to put £51.00 a week towards the cost of care, which was covered by Mam's pension.

This was a temporary measure, until at such time that it was deemed that Mam's placement would be classed as permanent and her weekly/monthly state pension would go towards her full care. Sadly, Mam was only classed as temporary care placement for the seven weeks she was in the Care Home until her death.

 

[Vindaloo Man]

I live with my mam and dad now after a divorce
The house is paid for so all in my dads name and he has £23k + in savings
My mam is getting closer and closer to needing to go in a home
When she does surely they can’t make me and my dad homeless to fund the care?

Think they put a 50% charge on your Mam's half share of the house. They would eat away your Mam's side of the equity to fund her care costs until it's used up. After that, I'm not sure.