Protect from Care Costs
There are currently over 500,000 people in long-term residential care in England,
with an additional 120,000 requiring residential care each year.
Under the terms of the Community Care Act of 1990, if you have total assets in excess
of £21,000 and go into care, then you must pay all of your own care costs. These
can be £500 to £600 per week, depending
on area and level of care needed.
When liquid assets are exhausted , Councils would then look to recover their costs
by forcing the sale of your home. Eaxh year, 70,000 homes (200 every day) are taken by
Councils throughout the UK to recover Long Term Care costs.
Setting up a Protective Property Will can allow couples to protect their property
from the Community Care Act and leave an inheritance for their family.
How does it work?
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The ownership of the house is changed to 'Tenants in Common'. This allow each
partner to leave their share of the house to whoever they like in their Will.
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On the death of the first partner, their share of the house is left to named beneficiaries
(e.g. their children) in Trust. At the same time, the survivor is allowed
to live in the house rent-free for as long as they want.
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On the second death, the trust will be wound up and the benificiaries inherit as per the original Will.
The end result is that should the survivor need to be assesed for care costs, half
of the value of the house has been removed from their assets and the other half
may be assesed as nil value since it is not readily saleable.
Please contact
Legal Services UK for more information.