Any independant financial advisors on the board?

[Gifter]

Blimey.

Going to be some hefty "presents" flying around then.

Don't quote me though, that might have been a number for home care (or something else), rings a bell though.

She could buy a car, which you use etc.

Lots of easy ways to eat up alot of £

If she has fairly big dough, might be worth buying a care home with it! They are gold mines as anyone with experience knows.

I'm sure I read that on average 85% of estate wealth is spent once in care, as more and more drugs are prescribed, keeping the 'client' sedated and needing less care ...

 

[THFC]

This applies if your mother transfers propertt and she were to continue to live there for example, of were to benefit from the home

 

[Gifter]

In fact, co-operatives would work well in this area.

A group of folks buy a care home, as they pass on the family sells their stake in the operation. At least that way you would have more confidence they are not giving drugs just to eat up the £.

 

[Thebarbarian]

Ok, anyone elaborate on this?

My mum is pushing 85 and is in generally good health, with most marbles intact.

My only doubt on her property is that it's a leasehold retirement flat, with service charges etc, and more importantly, a lower age limit (that incredibly is more than my own age).
Not sure if i would be "allowed" to take ownership.

not an expert, but have some insight into these things. Couple of things to watch out for:

1) get a copy of the leasehold agreement, it may well have conditions that it must be offered back to the Management Rights owner if it becomes available for sale.
2) Even if it can be sold on the "open market" , as you say there will be a minimum age (normally 50+), for your mum to keep living there you would need to check that a) she is allowed to sub-let, and b) she would have to pay a "market" rent for the property.

If theses options are allowed then the property may be able to be removed from her "wealth" when it comes to calculating assets for care, but remember if she sells it she would also need to shift the proceeds pretty quickly out of her estate. Putting some bonds in trust for you/grandchildren is a good move but I believe it is still subject to the 7 year rule.

My advice, sell the place if you can, and tell her to have a bloody good time spending the proceeds on herself !! A box at Spurs might be a sound investment (put me down for the first home game against Arse)

 

[The Fatman]

what I did for my parents, was to open an account in my name put all the money in there. if it is your inheritance and the person survives 7 years, it does not have to be declared.
Plus when they do a finacal check it does not show has her money.

It only works if they trust you with the money.

 

[r-u-s-x]

Perhaps pay your taxes?

 

[Thebarbarian]

Perhaps pay your taxes?

I presume that was a flippant comment.

No one has asked how to EVADE paying their tax, the request was about how it may be possible to AVOID paying tax. There is a significant legal difference ie one is illegal, the other is good financial planning.

 

[Gordinho]

More to the point I think the op was in fact asking how to avoid his mother's life saving being sequestered to pay care home fees should they arise. Tax has probably been paid on these savings several times over in one way or another.

 

[Crawley]

More to the point I think the op was in fact asking how to avoid his mother's life saving being sequestered to pay care home fees should they arise. Tax has probably been paid on these savings several times over in one way or another.

Quite.

Thank-you.

At no time have I asked about evading tax.

 

[spitshine]

Indeed. From past experience my grandparents had to sell the house to fund their costs when they went into a home. Really shocking after paying tax all their lives. If we knew then what we do now, this will not happen again.

 

[scaramanga]

Quite.

Thank-you.

At no time have I asked about evading tax.

Except in answer to my question

 

[Steed Train]

.....someone who can give me info on how to protect the savings of an elderly person should they ever have to go into a nursing home?

Would prefer qualified persons, not Google warriors please

and before you ask, Gordinho, DHSF etc, no, I am not at that stage already. It's for someone else close to me. :lol:

I'm a financial adviser, its hard to give concise advice without a clear picture of the whole situation. Some basics that might be able to help you:

Investment bonds: Any money invested into an Investment Bond is not included in long term care calculations. They are considered a "life" policy so the money would be exempt.

Trusts & Gifting: At your mothers age it would be wise to start looking into this. Very much depends on what her assets are and the value of them. Basic things to bear in mind are potentially exempt transfers (the IHT charge depreciates over a 7 year period). Gift allowances, you can gift up to £3,000 per year free of tax, you can also roll over any unused allowance from the previous year.

It is possible to get around interest in possession (for example if you wanted to gift your mothers property), I would advise seeking legal advice but a mechanism I've seen used is to get your mum to pay you rent after transfer legal ownership of the property. I would re-emphasise seeking professional advice as financial advice is very hard to provide generically.

Most advisers would happily provide a consultation free of charge

 

[Crawley]

I'm a financial adviser, its hard to give concise advice without a clear picture of the whole situation. Some basics that might be able to help you:

Investment bonds: Any money invested into an Investment Bond is not included in long term care calculations. They are considered a "life" policy so the money would be exempt.

Trusts & Gifting: At your mothers age it would be wise to start looking into this. Very much depends on what her assets are and the value of them. Basic things to bear in mind are potentially exempt transfers (the IHT charge depreciates over a 7 year period). Gift allowances, you can gift up to £3,000 per year free of tax, you can also roll over any unused allowance from the previous year.

It is possible to get around interest in possession (for example if you wanted to gift your mothers property), I would advise seeking legal advice but a mechanism I've seen used is to get your mum to pay you rent after transfer legal ownership of the property. I would re-emphasise seeking professional advice as financial advice is very hard to provide generically.

Most advisers would happily provide a consultation free of charge

Thanks steed, some interesting stuff there.