Keeping money safe

[jackboy]

My nan recently came to live with us permanently. My dad has always paid her mortgage and is still paying it because he wanted my nan's house to stay in the family and ultimately go to us, his children. My question is can the house be made safe from the goverment in terms of seizing the house to pay for social care in the future?

My nan is fine at the moment staying with us. But there is always the possibility she made need care in the future. Can the house be put into a trust or anything to protect it? Or do we have to wait 7 years b4 the house is secure from the government?

Does it make any difference than my dad has always paid her portion of the mortgage? I think she received some state allowance cos she was elderly and lived alone.

cheers

[Lee Young]

As your father has been paying the mortgage there is a very strong argument that he has some sort of equitable interest in the ptroperty, in which case this would devalue the asset when valuing it to detemine liability for care funding.

The 7 year rule does not aplpy to this situation - the local authorities can look back as long as they want to determine whether or not there has been deliberate deprivation.

How old is nan?

[jackboy]

My nan is 88 now. My dad only started paying the mortgage about 20 years ago when my grandad died. Until this point it was rented from the local authority. My nan wanted to stay in teh house but when my grandad died she feared she'd be moved out to make way for a family, so that's when they decided to buy it.

When my nan came to stay at our house certain modifications had to made etc and it does cost a certain amount to keep her etc. So we were thinking of letting the property out to gain a small income from it. What would be the implications of this if in 5 years she needed nursing care but a tennant was in teh property?

cheers

[Lee Young]

If it is rented out it is still in her estate for the purposes of care funding assessment. You would only ever rent it out on an assured shorthold basis so the property could be made vacant at reasonably short notice if it were needed to be sold to pay for fees.