My Partner has to go into care - will I lose my home?

 The cost of caring for an ageing population is a growing concern for individuals and families in the UK. And the reality is that many people will be forced to use hard-earned assets to pay for their care in later life, or when ill-health strikes.

A local authority will look at the value of those assets: savings, investments, certain benefits, and property. If the total is below the threshold (currently £23,250 in England), your partner is likely to get some funding. If it’s above, they will probably have to pay for their own care.

There is a glimmer of good news in this, however: the value of your home will not automatically be factored into the local authority’s assessment of your partner’s means. It should be excluded where the care your partner is getting is only short-term or temporary. But perhaps the most positive part of this for you is that the value of your home may not be taken into account while you are still living there as your partner’s partner, or as a lone parent. (Nor where the home is occupied by a child, or a relative who is aged at least 60 or who is disabled.)

Although many people in your position are able to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives, there may be conversations to be had between you and your partner about how best to meet the cost of their care. Bear in mind that if you decide to sell up, your partner’s share of the proceeds of sale may be taken into account as part of ongoing funding assessments.  

But there is another angle to this, too.  If your partner is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding (which is assessed on need, rather than means) they may not have to pay for their care at all – so the question of the family home might not come into it. We help individuals and families through the assessment process, making sure that the right questions are asked, the right information taken into account, and the right decision is reached.

With life expectancy continuing to rise, the likelihood is that all of us will need to think about care funding. But with good planning, and good advice – arranging assets in particular ways, for example - we can all minimise its impact.

Contact our Private Client Team today to discuss your particular circumstances in more depth, tel: 01264 353411, email: probate@bsandi.co.uk or fill in our no obligation online enquiry form and we will be happy to help.