Care homes - married couple
Discussion
Hi all, just trying to gather some info on a potential situation that is likely to come up...
Elderly Husband and wife (second marriage) they have been married for approx 12 years (probably irrelevant).
When they got married Husband came in with a mortgage free house (as well as pension and savings) and Wife came in with approx. £90k cash from previous sale of a house
They now own a mortgage free property in their joint names
Wife has little in the way of financial assets in her name
Husband has reasonable savings and a good pension, in his name, which dies with him.
So the question, The wife has been diagnosed with Dementia and looks inevitable that at some point (not sure how quickly) she will need to be looked after in a care home, husband is just too elderly to be able to manage at home on his own with her and suffers from a few old age frailties himself.
Can anyone advise on where to read up on how their individual or joint finances are dealt with in this sitaution. Whilst husband/they have some savings they are not sufficient for long term care. I have heard from others that the government expect an individual to pay until their financial position is depleted to anywhere from £25k to £75k (Heard various numbers). How does this work with a married couple? Are their finances treated independently or jointly? For example, combined wealth of £500k, as they are married, assume £250k each. Do government look at her share of the wealth (£250k) and expect her to pay out of this share until it gets to a figure (be it £25k or £75k, whatever it is) or do they look at the total £500k? Would they expect Husband to sell house they live in to pay for the wife's nursing costs? How is survivng spouse treated financially?
Hope the above makes sense, thanks in advance
Elderly Husband and wife (second marriage) they have been married for approx 12 years (probably irrelevant).
When they got married Husband came in with a mortgage free house (as well as pension and savings) and Wife came in with approx. £90k cash from previous sale of a house
They now own a mortgage free property in their joint names
Wife has little in the way of financial assets in her name
Husband has reasonable savings and a good pension, in his name, which dies with him.
So the question, The wife has been diagnosed with Dementia and looks inevitable that at some point (not sure how quickly) she will need to be looked after in a care home, husband is just too elderly to be able to manage at home on his own with her and suffers from a few old age frailties himself.
Can anyone advise on where to read up on how their individual or joint finances are dealt with in this sitaution. Whilst husband/they have some savings they are not sufficient for long term care. I have heard from others that the government expect an individual to pay until their financial position is depleted to anywhere from £25k to £75k (Heard various numbers). How does this work with a married couple? Are their finances treated independently or jointly? For example, combined wealth of £500k, as they are married, assume £250k each. Do government look at her share of the wealth (£250k) and expect her to pay out of this share until it gets to a figure (be it £25k or £75k, whatever it is) or do they look at the total £500k? Would they expect Husband to sell house they live in to pay for the wife's nursing costs? How is survivng spouse treated financially?
Hope the above makes sense, thanks in advance
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/p...
Age UK is a good place to start.
Assuming you are in England, the wife will be a self funder (will pay 100% of her care costs) if she has capital over £23,250. This will be capital in her sole name or 50% and joint arrangements with the spouse.
The marital home is disregarded from this calculation as long as her husband remains living there. If he wants to downsize/move at any stage, 50% of the sale proceeds goes to the wife and will be added to her capital (and she becomes a self funder). A local authority has discretionary powers on the latter point to continue to disregard the sale proceeds if it is considered punitive to the husband (e.g he cannot find a suitable replacement home with the value of his share of the proceeds).
Age UK is a good place to start.
Assuming you are in England, the wife will be a self funder (will pay 100% of her care costs) if she has capital over £23,250. This will be capital in her sole name or 50% and joint arrangements with the spouse.
The marital home is disregarded from this calculation as long as her husband remains living there. If he wants to downsize/move at any stage, 50% of the sale proceeds goes to the wife and will be added to her capital (and she becomes a self funder). A local authority has discretionary powers on the latter point to continue to disregard the sale proceeds if it is considered punitive to the husband (e.g he cannot find a suitable replacement home with the value of his share of the proceeds).
Edited by Sargeant Orange on Friday 3rd March 00:19
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