Does the 7 year rule apply for putting estate into familys names re. funding for care.

[bishopbriggs]

I wish to put my mother in law in sheltered accommodation and friends have told me that if she has her own house it will need to be sold to pay for it. However if we had put her house into our names (her son) 7 years ago they would not be able to charge her. Is the 7 year issue still in force.

[Barmaid]

The "7 year rule" has nothing to do with care home fees. The 7 year rule relates to IHT. If you mil had transferred her house to you more than 7 years before death, no IHT would have been payable - it being a potentially exempt transfer.

It does not matter when the transfer into the family's name is done in respect of a property if a "significant reason" is to avoid Local Authority charges. Obviously if this is done when the parent is relatively young and the need for care is not foreseen, it is harder for the Council to argue that she has depleted her assets to avoid being liable for a charge to care home fees. Seeing as in your case it sounds imminent, any such transfer would mean that your mil would be "deemed" to still possess the property and thus charged at full rate.