Protecting your home from future care costs

Legal expert Paul King has the answers to protect your home from the financial implications of future care costs.

His simple strategy could save couples thousands of pounds, while ensuring protection of their children’s inheritance.

Does this sound familiar?

“We’ve drawn up our wills so initially everything goes to the surviving spouse and then the children.”

Such wills are often called “mirror wills.” Sounds safe enough, doesn’t it? However, the harsh reality is that your children could end up with a mere fraction of your estate, or worse, nothing at all.

If the surviving spouse must enter guardianship, their assets will be reduced to cover the cost until they reach the lower limit.

Consequently, leaving your half of the house to your surviving partner may not be the smartest course of action. Instead, grant them USE on your behalf. This can be accomplished by creating a new style April Will through April King Legal.

Safeguarding Your Home From Future Cost of Care Charges: A Complete Guide to Protecting Your Children’s Estate. Paul King explains…

A significant number of their clients approach them after they have made standard mirror wills. Others have intended to create a will but have not been able to find the time.

With an April will, you and your partner each leave your half of the home in your April will to your children through a protective trust, while declaring that you cannot claim it during the lifetime of the surviving spouse or partner.

This share would NOT count in any future means test calculations for surviving spouse or partner care fees.

The surviving spouse retains the freedom to sell their share of the home, raise funds, or move. His children, although they cannot intervene, must simply bide their time to receive his inheritance, as was the case previously under his mirror will.

With an April will, you and your partner each leave your half of the home in your April will to your children through a protective trust, while stating that you cannot claim it during the lifetime of the surviving spouse or partner.

Potential future long-term care costs can be a financial burden that can weigh heavily on many families. The common misconception is that transferring ownership of the property to the children during their lifetime could avoid these charges. However, this approach can be seen as a deliberate attempt to get rid of assets and could backfire.

There are many misunderstandings about how local authorities calculate the cost of care. Since the implementation of the Community Care Law in 1993, when a person requires social care, local authorities assess their assets, which include their home, to contribute to the cost of care.

Once the individual’s assets fall below a specified limit, the local authority steps in to cover the fees.

Paul King, director of April King Legal, experienced such a situation in his own family. His grandmother required care for six years, and his home and estate were included in the local authority’s means test, as Paul’s grandfather had left everything to her in his will when he sadly passed away.

After her death, little of the estate was left due to the high cost of her care and her children only inherited what was left, which was only the legal lower limit.

After her death, little of the estate was left due to the high cost of her care and her children only inherited what was left, which was only the legal lower limit.

Mr King clears up the myth that parents can give up their home to their children to bypass the local authority means test. He points out that the seven-year rule applies to Inheritance Tax and not care fees.

He points out that the most viable solution for couples is not to leave their part of the house to their spouse, but to leave the surviving spouse or partner a guarantee in the will that they can continue to live in the house for the duration of their lives.

April King Legal has compiled a comprehensive guide, free of complex legal jargon, on how to protect your hard-earned assets.

This indispensable guide details why they DO NOT recommend transferring ownership of the home to your children or a trust during your lifetime (a strategy known as ‘deliberate deprivation’), or selling your home and moving into separate housing in your children’s yard.

It also explains the role of durable power of attorney and how April Wills can help prevent her children and grandchildren from losing their inheritance due to a child’s divorce, remarriage, or financial problems.

You can request a free information pack by calling April King Legal on 0800 788 0408, or by clicking here.

April King Legal has compiled a comprehensive guide, free of complex legal jargon, on how to protect your hard-earned assets.

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Source: tit.edu.vn