Would We Have To Sell Home To Fund Care ?

[geoff1057]

Hi ,MY NAME is also on the deeds of my mothers home, if she had to go into a care home ,would she have to sell the home to fund her care fees .

[bednobs]

for what purpose was your name put on the deeds and how long ago?

[bednobs]

i ask because social services can look back many years, and if the main reason for disposing of an asset was to avoid CH fees they can treat you as if you still own that asset

[geoff1057]

My mums home was a council home, we both funded to buy it, hence I had name put onto deeds too, as part owner.

[bednobs]

how do you own it- as joint tenants or tenants in common?

[bednobs]

from the CRAg guidlines:
7.017 Where a resident is a joint beneficial owner of property, i.e. he has the right to receive some of
the proceeds of a sale, it is the resident's interest in the property which is to be valued as
capital, and not the property itself. The value of this interest is governed by
1. the resident's ability to re-assign the beneficial interest to somebody else
2. there being a market i.e. the interest being such as to attract a willing buyer for
the interest. Regulation 27(2)
7.018 In most cases there is unlikely to be any legal impediment preventing a joint beneficial interest
in a property being re-assigned. But the likelihood of there being a willing buyer will depend on
the conditions in which the joint beneficial interest has arisen.
7.019 Where an interest in a property is beneficially shared between relatives, the value of the
resident's interest will be heavily influenced by the possibility of a market amongst his fellow
beneficiaries. If no other relative is willing to buy the resident's interest, it is highly unlikely that
any "outsider" would be willing to buy into the property unless the financial advantages far
outweighed the risks and limitations involved. The value of the interest, even to a willing buyer,
could in such circumstances effectively be nil. If the local authority is unsure about the resident's
share, or their valuation is disputed by the resident, again a professional valuation should be
obtained.

[geoff1057]

As tenants in common

[bednobs]

would her share take her above the 23500 lower limit? ie is her share worth more than £23500?

[geoff1057]

Ha ha, definitely not

[bednobs]

you realise that's 23 thousand five hundred pounds, not 235 thousand?
What proportion do you own the house in? Anywas the way i read it, her share can be treated as an asset and if the total of her assets take her over 23 thousand ish, she'll have to pay for her care, which might include selling the house

[geoff1057]

No she put in circa 5K

[bednobs]

but she may well be entitled to more than 5k now (if the value has gone up for example). in what proportions do you own the property and how much is it worth currently?

[gness]

Hi, Geof....a simple answer which may or may not be relevant to your case....
Thirty years ago a relative bought her council house for cash but put her son's name on it too......they both therefore owned the house....
Seven years ago she had to go into care and her half share of the house was to pay towards her care....
The son wasn't living in the house......it was sold quite quickly....he got half and her half went to pay for her care.....
Had the house been his home he could have stayed in it for as long as he wanted.......but a charge would have been in place for her half to be repaid for her care whenever the house was sold.......
Now, if you are not living in the house but want to hang on to it, I don't know how that would work......x