Safeguarding your home

One of the questions which we are frequently asked in the Wills, Trust, Tax and Probate department is ”it possible to protect my home from care home fees in the event that I have to go into care?”

If you have capital over the current limit of £23,250 you will be required to pay for your own care home fees should you ever require residential care (known as “self-funding”).  If your capital assets are below this limit, the Local Authority  will conduct an investigation into your finances called a Means Test.

Families often want to gift their homes to their children in order to try and safeguard their property for the younger generation.  If you transfer any of your assets with the intention of deliberately reducing the amount of capital which you own so that you do not have to pay for your own care this is known as “deliberate deprivation of assets”.

If you transfer an asset in order to reduce your capital, the local authority can treat you as though you have never made the transfer. They can also refuse to pay for your care if you have deliberately deprived yourself of an asset. It is a common misconception that a local authority can only investigate back seven years into someone’s finances. There is no restriction on how far back a local authority may investigate, although they will take into account the timing of the disposal when deciding whether a transfer of assets was made with the intention of reducing the size of your estate for care home fees.

However, it is possible to create a trust in your Will if you own your property jointly with your spouse or partner which could preserve half of the property for your family. We can draft your Will to state that when you die you wish your spouse or partner to be allowed to live in your share of your property for as long as they wish.  When the surviving partner no longer resides there, your share can pass to your children, instead of to your surviving spouse or partner. This means that if your surviving spouse requires residential care, the local authority should only claim against the survivor’s share of the property, preserving your share of the property for your family.

Please contact Sarah, Belinda or Katie in our Wills, Trust, Tax and Probate department to discuss making your Will today on 01274 723858 or 01943 601178 or email sarah@rdcsolicitors.co.uk  belinda@rdcsolicitors.co.uk or katie@rdcsolicitors.co.uk