WILL YOU HAVE TO SELL YOUR HOUSE

TO PAY FOR CARE FEES?

BACKGROUND:

Could you become one of over 70,000 people each year who have to sell all their assets, including their home, to fund care home fees? This is one of the worrying facts revealed by recent research carried out by Partnership, a financial company, which also found that 37 per cent of British adults over 50 have a close relative in residential care. The current rules state that anyone with capital - which includes savings, investments and the value of the person´s home - worth more than £21,500 must pay their own care home bills. The cost of care can reach £1,500 per week.

HOW COUPLES & THOSE RECENTLY WIDOWED CAN MINIMISE THE RISK

Couples: Experience tells us that local authorities very rarely seek an enforced house sale to meet long term care fees when a property has a debt to a trust on it. To achieve this, a couple´s Wills need to incorporate an appropriate trust and their house should be owned as tenants in common rather than as joint tenants.

At the time of the first death, the deceased´s share of the house is held in trust for the ultimate benefit of whoever they chose, typically children, whilst any wish that their surviving partner continue to enjoy the benefits of the home during their lifetime is invariably honoured by the trustees, the surviving spouse often being one of the trustees. Trusts in Wills are also used to protect other assets from the impact of long term care fees and have the potential to avoid all inheritance tax no matter what the size of the estate.

Trusts ensure that their beneficiaries, typically children, receive the gift left by the first to die no matter what path the surviving partner´s future life takes.

For example, the surviving partner may in time enter a new relationship, incur debts or unlimited long term care fees. All couples should arrange to have a trust in their Wills whilst they are both alive and well ahead of any need for long term care.

If you have been widowed in the last two years a Deed of Variation can often be used to provide the protection of the home from the future impact of long term care fees and to reduce or remove any future inheritance tax liability.

Trusts in Wills and Deeds of Variations need to be set up properly. It is essential to obtain expert guidance.

I provide this service and the preparation of Lasting Powers of Attorney locally for a very competitive fee in Luton,Dunstable,LU Postcodes, Bedfordshire.

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