Care home costs and legalities

[Roberto154]

Dear all,

I hope someone can help with some advice on dementia and the next steps.
To cut a long story short...

Mother - has dementia and to the point of moving her to a Nursing home full-time now fees circa. £6k per month
She has savings of around £80K and a property with no mortgage which is partly owned by myself and my siblings to the level of 67% to mum's 33%.

Declarations of assets - I guess we can't move the savings around or can we and how without repercussions at a later date?
Home - can we rent out the property privately (no agency) so this asset is protected? If so, how do we go about this?
If we sell, is the 67% protected from fees for the Nursing home - Social Services etc?

Thank you

[Pezza54]

No you can't move your mother's savings to avoid or reduce the amount she has to pay for care home fees. The LA will deem this to be deprivation of assets and will count any money moved.
You could rent out the property and put your mother's 33% share of the rent towards the care home fees.
The government has put back the lifetime cap on care home fees (£86k) to October 2025. It was going to be this month.
The allowances of £20k(LA fully funded) and £100k (LA part funded) have also been put back to October 2025.
There are informative articles about LA funding of care home fees on www.ageuk.org.uk and www.which.co.uk

[PallasAthena]

Was the 67% of the property owned by you/siblings gifted to you by your mother or did you pay the full open market price for it?

[Pezza54]

If the part share of the property was gifted after it became apparent that your mother was going to need to be looked after in a care home, then the LA may regard the gift as deprivation of assets.

[Pezza54]

If you or any of your siblings are aged over 60 and are prepared to move into the property as their main residence before your mother moves to a care home, then the LA may disregard the value of your mother's share..Please see factsheet 38 at ageuk.org.uk

[Roberto154]

No you can't move your mother's savings to avoid or reduce the amount she has to pay for care home fees. The LA will deem this to be deprivation of assets and will count any money moved.
You could rent out the property and put your mother's 33% share of the rent towards the care home fees.
The government has put back the lifetime cap on care home fees (£86k) to October 2025. It was going to be this month.
The allowances of £20k(LA fully funded) and £100k (LA part funded) have also been put back to October 2025.
There are informative articles about LA funding of care home fees on www.ageuk.org.uk and www.which.co.uk

This was done years ago as part of my late father's will to protect this percentage as inheritance for the children.

[Roberto154]

If the part share of the property was gifted after it became apparent that your mother was going to need to be looked after in a care home, then the LA may regard the gift as deprivation of assets.

no, this was in place many years ago after my father's death in 2007

[PallasAthena]

If the house was gifted to you by your father not your mother, and your mother never owned 100% of it, then that should be safe from any LA claiming it to be a 'deprivation of assets' because it was never your mother's asset in the first place. (In theory there is no limit on how far back in time LAs can go to investigate 'deprivation of assets.)