It is too late to sell or give it away now to avoid it being used to pay care home fees as your mother is already in the care system so it would be seen as deliberate deprivation of assets and the local authority would strongly challenge it. Therefore they must have been paying her share of the mortgage in past years.
If your aunt’s home is included in her local authority’s financial assessment, she may need to sell it to pay for her care. Others make an agreement with the local authority to ‘defer’ or delay paying for care. Costs usually need to be paid back within certain timeframes, with fees and interest added.
How can I avoid paying residential care home fees?
The most popular way to avoid selling your house to pay for your care is to use equity release. If you own your own house, you can look at Equity Release. This allows you to take money out of your house and use that to fund your care.
Why do I need to sell my mother’s home?
We find out what Daughter wants to do with the house and what Mother’s financial needs are. Often, we are told that selling Mother’s home is necessary because she no longer lives there and needs money to pay for her increased medical expenses such as 24 hour at-home care, adult day services programs, or assisted living care.
Can a mother in law use the proceeds of a property sale?
So if your mother-in-law were to sell up and buy somewhere near you, she should be able to use the full amount that the house is sold for. You can find more detailed information on the rules in Age UK Factsheet 38: Property and paying for residential care (PDF), and Factsheet 39: Paying for care in a care home if you have a partner.
Do we need to sell mum’s home to cover care fees?
Do we need to sell Mum’s home to cover care fees? Thousands of properties are sold each year to enable people to meet the exorbitant cost of their care fees.
Can you sell your home to pay for senior care?
As noted earlier, seniors who own their own home but require long-term care in a facility or community can often leverage their home equity to help cover the costs associated with care. One way to do this is by selling the home outright and using the proceeds to pay for care.
