Selling mums house - care costs query
Discussion
My mum is 92 and has been in good health up until now, but has recently had a few issues that led to a spell in hospital and on release she has come to live with me and my family for a month or so.
She's getting better, and hopes to go back to her home in the New Year.
But obviously she's not getting any younger, so we need to look at options for looking after her when the time comes.
She's on state pension only. Gets Pension Credits, has about £8,000 in savings and a house worth about £300k.
One option I'm thinking of is to sell her house and use the money to build a downstairs bedroom for her on the back of our house, but I'm concerned that if she needs to go into specialist care further on Social Services might see this as a "gift" of the money to dispose of assets, and want to claim it back to pay for care costs. Is that something that happens, or am I overthinking it?
She's getting better, and hopes to go back to her home in the New Year.
But obviously she's not getting any younger, so we need to look at options for looking after her when the time comes.
She's on state pension only. Gets Pension Credits, has about £8,000 in savings and a house worth about £300k.
One option I'm thinking of is to sell her house and use the money to build a downstairs bedroom for her on the back of our house, but I'm concerned that if she needs to go into specialist care further on Social Services might see this as a "gift" of the money to dispose of assets, and want to claim it back to pay for care costs. Is that something that happens, or am I overthinking it?
I'd say you were over-thinking it as there's no reason to suggest your mum will need to go into full time care despite her age. Plus your intentions at present are to prevent social services taking on that liability so if there was an issue, spending the money purely to create additional living space for your mum would give you a strong argument against the suggestion of 'Deprivation of Assets'.
All said whatever money remains of your mums will be used as part of the assessment and to potentially pay for residential care.
I applaud your good intentions.
All said whatever money remains of your mums will be used as part of the assessment and to potentially pay for residential care.
I applaud your good intentions.
Do you have the money to build the annex before selling her house?
Keep in mind, if you sell her house it could be 6 months by the time the sale goes through and cash is released.
Getting planning and finding a builder for the annex is probably 2 years.
What if she were to pass away mid sale/build? Is her will water -tight?
Often the upheaval of moving can be a cause of great upset to the elderly. Is she on board with your plan?
Have you considered some kind of home help?
Good luck, but consider all possibilities.
Keep in mind, if you sell her house it could be 6 months by the time the sale goes through and cash is released.
Getting planning and finding a builder for the annex is probably 2 years.
What if she were to pass away mid sale/build? Is her will water -tight?
Often the upheaval of moving can be a cause of great upset to the elderly. Is she on board with your plan?
Have you considered some kind of home help?
Good luck, but consider all possibilities.
Armitage.Shanks said:
I'd say you were over-thinking it as there's no reason to suggest your mum will need to go into full time care despite her age. Plus your intentions at present are to prevent social services taking on that liability so if there was an issue, spending the money purely to create additional living space for your mum would give you a strong argument against the suggestion of 'Deprivation of Assets'.
All said whatever money remains of your mums will be used as part of the assessment and to potentially pay for residential care.
I applaud your good intentions.
Likewise, a very good intention and I would tend to agree that as the cost of the annex is for your mums benefit, then it shouldn’t be considered as a deliberate act.All said whatever money remains of your mums will be used as part of the assessment and to potentially pay for residential care.
I applaud your good intentions.
However, the remaining amount of the house funds would , I would imagine, be considered in a financial assessment at a later stage.
The important thing is here as I ve discovered is that nobody can demand that your mum goes into care.
It can be advised as in her best interests. But if she needs care and she s annexed onto your house then she ll receive the care and not be forced into a residential home if that s not what she/you wants.
Just went through this myself. Around 2yrs of full care package. Various issues, hospitalisations. Always agreed it best she went home.
I d say go for it and use her funds for it, she can pay a builder directly then even better if the moneys not entered your account.
It can be advised as in her best interests. But if she needs care and she s annexed onto your house then she ll receive the care and not be forced into a residential home if that s not what she/you wants.
Just went through this myself. Around 2yrs of full care package. Various issues, hospitalisations. Always agreed it best she went home.
I d say go for it and use her funds for it, she can pay a builder directly then even better if the moneys not entered your account.
Edited by Edible Roadkill on Monday 22 December 17:53
ChocolateFrog said:
NDA said:
Do you have any siblings?
That would seem quite important when spending the inheritance. Yes, I have a sister who lives in the USA. Obviously we will discuss everything with her.
The will simply divides everything equally between me and sister, so nothing complicated to sort out there.
I haven't got the money to pay to extend the house without selling her place. If necessary I could get a mortgage to pay for it as long as I could pay it off once the house is sold.
The will simply divides everything equally between me and sister, so nothing complicated to sort out there.
I haven't got the money to pay to extend the house without selling her place. If necessary I could get a mortgage to pay for it as long as I could pay it off once the house is sold.
When I looked at this a few years ago, the council would help with the cost of carers in her own home, as long as her savings are less than £28k. They have to ignore the value of her house.
I had a bit of a fight with my brother about it. My mum had dementia and would probably have been safer in a home. However, a care home is far more expensive and, once she had left her home, that asset would have to be used to fund her care. My brother probably had a beady eye on his inheritance, though, to be fair, my mother wanted to be in her own home and would have caused chaos in any home. In the end, we were at a stage where it was either going to be 24hr care at home (which would have needed to be paid for by us), or go into a home. She then dropped dead, so we never had to chose.
I had a bit of a fight with my brother about it. My mum had dementia and would probably have been safer in a home. However, a care home is far more expensive and, once she had left her home, that asset would have to be used to fund her care. My brother probably had a beady eye on his inheritance, though, to be fair, my mother wanted to be in her own home and would have caused chaos in any home. In the end, we were at a stage where it was either going to be 24hr care at home (which would have needed to be paid for by us), or go into a home. She then dropped dead, so we never had to chose.
Edible Roadkill said:
The important thing is here as I ve discovered is that nobody can demand that your mum goes into care.
It can be advised as in her best interests. But if she needs care and she s annexed onto your house then she ll receive the care and not be forced into a residential home if that s not what she/you wants.
Just went through this myself. Around 2yrs of full care package. Various issues, hospitalisations. Always agreed it best she went home.
I d say go for it and use her funds for it, she can pay a builder directly then even better if the moneys not entered your account.
When I started to look at this when my mum took a turn and lived 2 hours away, we were told that social services could insist she move to a home if they believed her welfare was at risk (she wasn’t down that pathway and luckily still isn’t). My concern at the time was that the area she was in was vast and she was on “our side” of it, so it could have placed her 3 hours away.It can be advised as in her best interests. But if she needs care and she s annexed onto your house then she ll receive the care and not be forced into a residential home if that s not what she/you wants.
Just went through this myself. Around 2yrs of full care package. Various issues, hospitalisations. Always agreed it best she went home.
I d say go for it and use her funds for it, she can pay a builder directly then even better if the moneys not entered your account.
Edited by Edible Roadkill on Monday 22 December 17:53
We moved 2 years ago to the coast and I brought her across regularly. She was very settled where she was as a widower of some years, so I was surprised when she accepted my offer to help her move to be next to us at the seaside (I do admit to floating the idea that she would see much more of her grand kids if she joined us!)
I also looked at buying her a place near me or extending where we are to allow her to live with us, but the time scales even for a relatively quick completion concerned me (she’s 84).
What I managed to do was find her better rented accommodation locally to me (she was in rented before) and start to look at local options for future care while she’s able to be involved in those decisions.
Being 5 mins walk from us now and the grandkids (she has mobility issues so it’s more for us to get to her) really has changed things for the better. While we would only go weeks between seeing her before maximum, it’s unusual not to see her now every other day and she spent Sunday just gone with us in our house which has been lovely.
We managed the move (pretty much myself handling all the details along with a man with a van) inside 3 weeks from the decision to move to turning on the kettle with her settled at the other end.
Another route you can explore are ready made Granny Annexes that are planning free and can be sited very quickly.
https://www.thegardenroomguide.co.uk/annexes/grann...
There are others and I did explore this route myself but we didn’t really have the space (it’s a complex basement conversion I’m really after as we have a small garden), but it might be a good fit if you are looking at extending?
The benefit of these is that they can be sold on when no longer required if you didn’t want to site them permanently.
When I started to look at what decent rental space was available locally though, I changed my mind. There are some lovely flats locally (in our case first floor with a lift) and one just fit the bill perfectly.
You could possibly let her own home out (bit of a minefield) or move her closer to yourselves then sell the house at leisure while she settles. One thing I didn’t bank on (focusing on the negative) was that a move gave my mum a bit of a new lease of life and has lifted her spirits a lot more than expected, there was no looking back and she loves where she is…
Edible Roadkill said:
I d say go for it and use her funds for it, she can pay a builder directly then even better if the moneys not entered your account.
Also the council will have to show that avoiding care costs was a significant reason for the gift. Building an extension so she could live in it might be okay? It's not in the same ball park as giving away the house. I'm going to discuss this with solicitor as my mum only owns half the house anyway - dad left his share to us - and it makes more (economic) sense for her to live with us anyway.Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff