Anyway, I viewed a house some time ago before deciding on the one I have, and it was being sold by a son of the woman who owned it- his Mum had gone into Residential care. Now, what would be the point of him trying to get the best possible price for his Mum's hosue if it all has to go to Government? Can you keep some?
Otherwise why not say, here have it for ￡50,000 below the estimate just to get rid cos the only person you're saving money is the government???
Bear in mind the difference between NURSING care and CARE/ RESIDENTIAL care. This is the fundamental difference that you need to get your head around.
Additionally, I also know for a FACT that some nursing care/ continuing care can and is provided at home, by nurses along with district nurses. Sometimes of course, for those who remain in "thier own home" cna be packages of both NURSING and GENERAL care, as I outlined above.
Have a look at this http://www.nhfa.co.uk/modules/standard/viewpage.asp?id=174 it might give you a bit more idea of the difference.
Feel free to PM me with any questions, Im not an expert, but I know some stuff
One of the reasons for this move is to ensure that my FIL does not need to go into a care home. If his health deteriorated to a point where we could not care for his needs (even with a nurse) then we would have to face options such as a care home. However that is certainly not our plan.
I have booked an appointment with a solicitor to discuss our options in detail. Once I have a proper understanding of our options from a legal point of view, I will look to meet with an accountant to see how our options stack up financially.
Maddy
1) if the person needs NURSING ( ie MEDICAL) care the NHS pays for it out of thier continuing care package.
2) if the person needs CARE then they have to pay for it. Miss K is correct here the CARE component would be pretty much negated by living with you and the adapted garage ( which I think is a FANTASTIC idea BTW) and the shopping, cooking, cleaning and self-care issues should be covered within the family when he is unable to manage himself. Yes, you might want to employ a carer for the personal care bit, but its not a lot, usually around the tenner an hour mark ( although you can get MUCH less if you are savvy about it ) , and if its just for the personal care you could be looking at about 50 a week for bathing etc. Not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things IMHO.
I dont intend to turn this into an argument about how the care is dished out and whos had what outcomes ( usually disappointing, sadly) but just to let the OP know this fundamental difference in care issues which seldom gets discussed in the press.
If he dies within a certain amount of years, I'm not sure if you'd cop for inheritance tax as your money and his is combined together as your home where your family live, besdies I think inheritance tax is dependant on your honesty as they don't have the manpower to start delving into transactions from years ago. Could be wrong though
If a person has disposed of assets within a particular time frame (and it may vary from council to council) of the person applying for a local authority care home place, the council may decide they sold the asset to avoid paying the care charges. You seriously need to talk to solicitor – preferably an independent one for your FIL and one for yourselves also.
very best wishes