Long Term Care
The potential cost of long-term care is a worry for many clients, particularly for those who are home-owners.
Specialist advice and careful planning can help to protect your assets.
The NHS may arrange and pay for your care if you have a primary health need under NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC). If you have some health needs but you do not qualify for full NHS funding, then the NHS may pay a contribution towards the cost of your care under NHS-funded Nursing Care (NHS FNC).
When assessing your care needs, the Local Authority will look at your financial position to determine how much you need to pay.
If you have capital above the threshold of £23,250, and you do not qualify for NHS CHC or FNC, then you will have to pay for the cost of your care in full. This can obviously have a huge impact on savings and investments.
Passing on your savings and capital during your lifetime can affect your eligibility for Local Authority funding.
Clients often enquire about signing over their house to their children because they believe that by transferring the legal title of their property out of their ownership they will avoid having to pay for care. This course of action could have many repercussions, but specifically, in this context, it could be considered to be deliberate deprivation of capital by the Local Authority. This would mean that the Local Authority would treat you as though you still owned the property.
However, there are some planning opportunities to help protect your assets through the use of a Trust in your Will. The arrangements are complex but we can provide you with clear, practical advice to help you decide whether this type of planning is suitable for you.
For further information, get in touch with our experts to see how we can help.
A carefully drafted Will containing a Trust can help to preserve assets.
Our specialists will ensure that any planning fits your particular circumstances and you are aware of all of the implications of creating a Trust.
Call us free on 0800 9875564