A client has asked us the following question about care home fees and how the local authority decides who pays:
Could I have some feed back on the limit of the Local Authority (LA) powers to claw back fees against property owned by the daughter and only child of an elderly lady.
Approximately two years ago the daughter and her family decided the elderly lady should move nearer to them so they could look after her better. Her house was sold and the proceeds of £150K were not enough to buy a suitable property so the daughter raised £50K against the family home (in sole name of the daughter). The £200K purchased the property and this was put in the sole name of the daughter, the £150K being gifted to the daughter. The elderly mother presently lives there.
The daughter is 36 and the old lady is 78 and the house is currently valued at £300K. The family feels the mother’s gradual loss of health (physical and mental) may hasten the need for her to go in to a home. What claim could they have against this property?
I am concerned that the LA may try and force a sale to seek all they need for fees.
Would this action be limited to the original input of the mother or the whole of the proceeds less the £50K put up by the daughter?
We reply:
The local authorities have simple rules; get all the money they can from the public providing it’s within the rules. You’ll have seen the bin police, the yellow cameras, the council and hospital parking charges; they also can’t afford to provide for care homes so they need the public to pay as much as possible. This isn’t political speak, just facing the facts.
There are no rules about time limits as far as the LA are concerned. If you were 40 and did a transfer and then had a car accident and needed care home facilities, they wouldn’t have deemed that you’ve tried to get out of paying the bills. However, if you’re 90 and you gave away your property ten years ago, they might deem it that you did that to avoid care home fees.
You can fight the LA, but you need facts and a paper trail.
Why would the mother give her property away? Did the children originally finance it through a mortgage in the mother’s name, but the children paid for it? Have the children always maintained the property? Did the mother owe her daughter money?
You need to state why something happened, specifically. You need to document everything so that you build up a small (or large) file of why things happened to prove you didn’t give away your property to avoid future bills.
If you did give away your property to avoid future care home fees, then own up and give up.
Be prepared to fight and dig your heels in.
However, they can be reasonable (ish!) and they may take the mother’s percentage of the home and keep that percentage of the new home valuation, thus the daughter’s 50k would be worth 25% of the current valuation.
Speak with an LSUK professional who will be able to talk through your individual case with you and advise you accordingly.
Filed under: Legal Advice
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