Put dads house in trust?

A question about : Put dads house in trust?

Hi - looking for some advice please!

My dad is 75, he lives in sheltered accommodation which he pays rent on, as he has a property that he rents out which pays his existing rent on his flat essentially.

I am registered as a lasting power of attorney for his financial affairs should he lose mental capacity - at this time he retains capacity although has short term memory issues and accesses a LA funded day centre 3 days a week.

The LA also fund his carers who attend his flat for personal care and food preparation. This, I believe is because his house is classed as giving him an income, and when he was financially assessed with this income, as he then spends it on his rent in his sheltered accommodation, he meets the threshold to have his care paid.

Dad has a will made out and feels strongly that he does not want his house to have to be sold should he need full time residential care in the future, he wants to leave it to family in his will.

He has seen a solicitor who advises that as he is in the system for LA funded care, there is no way around this.

Inheritance solutions, a company dad has contacted have advised that he can put his property into a trust. However, as he is in receipt of LA funded care, this is not a guarantee. They quote 2500 for this to be done which appears both expensive and a risk. Cost aside as I am sure there is a cheaper company, has anyone experience or advice regarding this please? Is it worth doing and will it protect the asset?

Many thanks

S

Best answers:

• Ask the solicitor specifically about this. However, I think that this would be considered a deprivation of assets.
  Is the solicitor your dad saw a member of STEP and Solicitors for the Elderly? If not, it may be worth getting a second opinion from one who is.
  This might have worked had it been done before your dad got to the point of needing support. I think he would find he had wasted his Ј2,500
• Dad has a will made out and feels strongly that he does not want his house to have to be sold should he need full time residential care in the future, he wants to leave it to family in his will.
  Who does your Dad think should fund his living costs if he goes into care with assets of a house, if not him?
  Are you going to look after him if he doesn't want to pay for care?
  As Im afraid I don't want to be paying for him when he has enough assets to pay for himself.
• That your father already receives LA funded home and day care despite owning a property and therefore probably exceeding the minimum threshold for LA assessed funding is a rare thing in these financially-straitened times. There are many who would be grateful to be receiving that funding.
  Whilst this company you mention are asking him to pay Ј2500 to look into putting his house in trust (without guarantee), that he receives care already is suggestive that he has a condition that may need residential care in the future. To attempt to remove the asset (the house) to avoid paying for that care could look like a deliberate attempt to deprive himself of assets. How often an LA pursues a case of deprivation of assets is a moot point, but it is a risk nonetheless, and he could find himself unable to pay for his own care and the LA refusing to fund it as well.
  He may never need residential care, or family could provide the care he needs to avoid him having to go into residential care, and thereby he can keep his house.
  Many people would like to keep their assets and not have to fund care, but that is the situation as it stands at present. Those that can afford it have to pay, those that cannot are funded. I suspect that he would be throwing away the Ј2500 - if there was a guaranteed method of achieving what you want I think you would find many posts about it, let alone finding a cheaper company.
• It's definitely deprivation of assets if done now , should have been done years ago
• OP, your father is very lucky to have funded carers, since he has assets.
  If he has to have residential care at some point, he will have to pay for it. He can't live in two places, so either continue renting his house or sell it.
  You can't expect the taxpayers, namely people like we who have posted here, to pay so that you inherit.