Legal Planning

At a time when you are experiencing a sad loss you will need to obtain probate through the court to administer the deceased’s will and estate. For example, the deceased has died without leaving a will. This can be very costly and time consuming.

West Midlands Care Legal Services will guide you through and complete all relevant probate applications in the comfort of your own home. Giving you a stress free consultation from an experienced member of staff.

We can arrange a probate application from £795*

To qualify for reduced costs please click on contact us below:

UK (except Scotland)

Partly, as a result of longer life expectancy, we all face the possibility that we may lose the mental capacity to manage our own affairs. The onset of illnesses such as Dementia or Alzheimers Disease, may impair our ability to cope with a variety of day to day matters. The inability to sign cheques, sell assets or withdraw money from the building society can create an extremely distressing and difficult situation for ourselves and our family.

If capacity is lost our affairs are taken over by the Court of Protection/Office of the Public Guardian, which can be an intrusive, lengthy and costly procedure. The Court of Protection have charged people 3.2billion pounds to access their own Funds. However, this situation can be avoided by the appointment of an Enduring/Lasting Power of Attorney; a document which legally authorises one or more people, we trust, to act on our behalf.

We also feel it is important that you can be part of the final decisions regarding your love one and so you also should consider a health and welfare lasting power of attorney as well.

NOTE - It was only possible to set up Enduring Power of Attorneys until September 2007 when the new system of Lasting Power of Attorney took over

If you would like help with producing a Power of Attorney contact us and we will walk you through the process at a cost which is less than half what a Solicitor would charge. This service is geared to people who are in a Care Home or receiving Care at Home

We can set up a Lasting Power of Attorney from £395*

"We have made our Wills leaving everything to each other then to the children". Does this sound familiar? These are known as Mirror Wills. Sounds reassuring though doesn't it? But your children could in fact end up with very little or nothing at all.

The internet is full of advice on writing wills, inclusing writing your own will at no cost. However this is not a good idea should you need to utilise assets to pay for care.

If your surviving spouse has to go into care, they will have to use their assets to pay for their care until they get down to their last £14250. It is therefore not a good idea to leave your half share of the home to your surviving partner but instead leave them the use of your share. This can be achieved by making new Property Trust Wills. These legitimate steps must be taken while you are both alive and in reasonable good mental health. It is therefore important for couples to act now!

Most of our clients come to us having already made standard Mirror Wills or have been meaning to make a Will but simply haven't got around to it yet. With Property Wills, yourself and your spouse/partner each leave your half sahre of the home to the children in Trust but state that they are not to receive it during the lifetime of the surviving spuse/partner. This half would then NOT be included in any future means test calculations for care fees. The surviving spouse is free to sell their share of the home, raise cash or move house. Your children are powerless to intervene but simply have to wait for their inheritance as they would have done previously

West Midlands Care Legal Services are your local estate law specialists and can advise on protecting your assets

You should seek professional help to write your will if:

• you own property abroad
• you're trying to reduce your inheritance tax bill
• you have foreign investments or bank accounts
• you own a business that you're leaving to someone as part of your will
• you have people you are financially dependant on you other than your immediate family

Prices:

Basic Will:

£130.00

Property Protection Will:

£395.00

A Strategy to Protect the Family Home from Contributing to Care Fees

Introduction

Anecdotal evidence suggests that anything between 40,000 and 70,000 are sold each year to cover the owner’s care fees.

Parents are also seeing the nest eggs built up as intended inheritances for their children decimated over short periods once in care.

With advance planning this need not be the case. There are ways to protect the family home for the next generation.

This guide highlights the opportunity for planning, briefly describes some of the relevant regulations and suggests a simple strategy to protect the family home.

The Background

Many elderly people are desperately looking for a way of protecting their estate to pass it on to the children and to avoid it being wiped out by care home fees.

Giving the home away to the children is sometimes seen as the solution (not to be recommended). There is also the misconception that if you give the home away more than 6 months before going into care, the local authority cannot touch it. There is a so called “six month rule” in the legislation, but this rule only applies under certain circumstances and should not be relied on. In the real world, many local authorities have rules of thumb; some will only look back over one or two years, but some will look back much further. “Deliberate deprivation”, as it is known, is a relevant concept and makes things much more difficult.

Cash strapped local authorities are cracking down on people who they think are trying to avoid paying care fees and they are becoming increasingly sceptical about people saying gifts were made due to the natural love and affection for their children. We will show you a recognised planning technique which can help to shelter the family home.

The Basic Position

Those who cannot afford to pay privately for care must look to the local authority for funding or assistance with funding. The resident has free choice of home, subject only to the fee level quoted, which is usually within the funding arrangement available to the local authority.

Both income and capital resources are assessed.

• Above capital of £22,500, no contribution will be made by the local authority
• Below £13,000, a full contribution will be made by the local authority
• Between £22.500 and £13,000, there is a partial contribution made by the local authority

Virtually all income is assessable. The principal exception relates to part of an occupational pension in certain circumstances. A small amount of income (Currently £19.60 per week) is not assessed, amounting to little more than pocket money. This is literally intended to cover toiletries, hairdressing etc.

We are focusing on the family home. Advice on other capital is available upon request.

The Home

The starting position is that the home counts as capital for financial assessment purposes. The value of the home, or an interest on it, is taken account of as a capital asset. It comes into the reckoning for means testing at its market value, less 10% (assumed costs of sale) and less mortgage liability. Once sold, the home simply comes in as cash.

The home is disregarded under certain circumstances:

• During the first 12 weeks of care
• During temporary or respite care
• If it is occupied by a husband, wife or unmarried partner
• If it is occupied by a close relative over the age of 60 (or under the age of 16)
• If it is occupied by a relative under the age of 60 who is disabled

The local authority may, at its discretion, ignore the value of the house if it the permanent home of a carer, or in one or two other limited situations. Clearly the local authority’s discretion ought not to be relied on.

The Solution

The solution is to ensure that the home is not personally owned on entry into care. The local authority’s financial assessment can then legitimately and properly be completed on the basis that the home is not a capital resource of the resident.

The solution involves putting the home into a trust, so that the trustees are the owners.

Features of the trust are:

• The former owner has guaranteed right of residence in the property for the remainder of his or her life. The trustees, usually the children, cannot evict the former owner in any circumstances.
• The former owner has the ability to direct the trustees to sell the property and to buy a new property of the former owner’s choice. The former owner can therefore move property or trade down. The trustees have no choice in the matter. Of course, in the rare circumstances where the new property might be more expensive, the trustees can only be required to buy the new property if the additional capital needed is provided by the former owner.
• If the property is sold, for whatever reason, and a new property is not bought, usually if the former owner is entering care, then the proceeds of the sale will be invested and the former owner will received the interest or income earned on the invested capital.
• On the death of the former owner (or the second of two former owners), but not before, the property, or its proceeds of sale, passes to the chosen beneficiaries; the trust at that point operates similarly to a will.

Married Couples

The Trust described above is equally applicable to married couples as to single owners. In fact, married couples entering into the strategy will have the additional advantage that they do so at a time when if one of them went into care, the home would in any event be disregarded due to the other spouse living in it.

Home Protection Trusts start from £1750*

To qualify for reduced costs please click on contact us below:

We also have example policies, procedures and templates available

Q. Can we prevent our Property from being used to pay for the possible cost of our care in the future?

Yes, please contact us for advice regarding your property

Q. What type of LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) is best for me?

This will depend upon your circumstances and will become obvious through discussion with our consultant.

Q. Who should I appoint as my Attorney?

If you are married or living in a partnership the best person is your partner. If you are on your own, a family member such as a sibling is probably best, although you can use a friend. In any case, you are strongly advised to appoint a second or “reserve” attorney.

Q. Can I limit the powers of my Attorney?

Yes, in any way you wish.

Q. Can my Attorney register the power?

Yes. However, the system being heavily bureaucratic, it is possible he or she may prefer help.  Whenever a power is registered, the Court writes to the people you have nominated as “friends” to  ensure this power isn’t being taken ut against your will.

Q. When should I register an LPA?

We recommend you register an LPA as soon as it is signed. However, we also recognise that  circumstances vary and whilst a Health & Welfare LPA could well be needed on the same day as  the pertinent medical problem comes to light, a Property & Affairs LPA might not be needed until  a few weeks after the event, a time frame ommensurate with the time it takes the Court to  register the power. So, on balance, a Health & Welfare LPA needs immediate registration whilst a  Property & Affairs LPA can usually wait.