Financing Care
How Much Will You Have To Pay For Care?
Care can wipe out your assets
When someone enters Care they are automatically means tested. All of your capital assets, including your home, are taken into account, and only those who have assets below the threshold (£14,250 at the time of writing) will be entitled to the maximum possible public funding.
This means that unless adequate thought has been given to protecting your assets, a local authority is likely to insist that they be used to pay for your Care. If you are earning income from an asset or investment when your enter Care, the local authority could ask for this situation to continue in order to contribute towards the cost of your Care. And if you are not earning an income from them, your assets will probably need to be sold in order to finance your Care – so your dependants will no longer be able to inherit them.
But It Needn’t Be This Way
We can advise you of any investments that are excluded from the assessment, and help in protecting the assets you’ve spent a lifetime building. Our advice has been tested numerous times when clients have moved into a Care environment and we have managed to preserve their major asset (usually their family home) so that their offspring are able to inherit it.
Remember, You need to plan several years ahead to ensure your assets are properly ring fenced and protected before needing to go into Care.
Should you or a family member require Long Term Care, we can help.
Where a financial assessment is required, we can assist with this and ensure that the correct approach is adopted by the Council or Local Authority and that all the necessary processes are followed. For example, has a Continuing Healthcare Assessment and a Needs Assessment been conducted? We are happy to attend meetings to ensure that procedures are followed and that the assessment outcome is fair.
What can happen?
When it comes to moving into a home, we can provide advice on the appropriateness of the contract for the placement, and we can continue to liaise with a Local Authority or Council on your behalf if issues arise on the outcome of a financial assessment.
Should you have any concerns at all at what can be a difficult time, we are able to provide help and assistance.
• Your home may have to be sold to pay for your Long Term Care costs. It can however be protected now and remember, if your property is worth £250,000 – that is around 5 years fees in all probability.
• Your savings and investments could be wiped out. Be under no illusion here and the popular myth that ISA’s are protected is not correct.
• Any income would be assessed and used towards the cost of your care.
• Your children and grandchildren could lose their entire inheritance and struggle to pay for your Funeral in the most extreme cases.
Get In Touch
For a confidential chat about securing a more stable future for you and your dependants, please call us on 01823 240241, or send us a message now.
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