Property Protection Trust
According to a recent survey of 66 councils in England, last year 70,000 homes were sold to pay for residential or nursing care!
One in every three women and one in every four men are likely to require long term residential care.
Fees in Care Homes vary considerably, but are in the order of £15,000 to £25,000 depending on facilities and the area of the country.
In April 1993 the Community Care Act came into force in the UK. It removed responsibility for assessing needs and paying for care from the Department of Social Security to Local Authorities. It gave the right to the Local Authorities to means test individuals to assess whether any financial assistance will be given. If you have assets valued at over £21,500 and require residential care, you are responsible for the costs and the Local Authority may obtain an order enabling the sale of assets including the home to meet the costs.
The property must be jointly owned as “Tenants in Common”. Each partner leaves their share of the property (usually 50%) in trust for children or other beneficiaries rather than to the joint owner of the property.
This means that the survivor never becomes sole owner of the property which prevents the Local Authority including the whole value of the property when totalling assets if the survivor needs permanent residential care. So the most that could be claimed against is the survivor’s half of the property.