Protecting the estate

[PT63]

My father passed away a number of years ago and his estate passed on to my mother. She is now getting on in years, so I want to ensure that her estate is protected as much as possible from any forced sell through long term care or any subsequent inheritance tax obligations.

What are the best ways of doing this?

[factor-fiction]

IHT will only be an issue if the estate is worth more than �312,000.

See a solicitor regarding what your options are, but if she sells the home/transfers it to you it is very likely that she will be liable for care home fees. Local authorities are very well aware that people try to avoid fees in this way, and regard it as deliberate disposal of assets.

Anyway, if she has assets she can use, it means you can have a choice of care home for her rather than risk her being put in the one the local authority thinks is the cheapest.

This site may help:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HealthAndWellBeing /HealthServices/CareHomes/DG_10031525

[factor-fiction]

Let's see if the format of this one is better.

IHT will only be an issue if the estate is worth more than �312,000.

See a solicitor regarding what your options are, but if she sells the home/transfers it to you it is very likely that she will be liable for care home fees. Local authorities are very well aware that people try to avoid fees in this way, and regard it as deliberate disposal of assets.

Anyway, if she has assets she can use, it means you can have a choice of care home for her rather than risk her being put in the one the local authority thinks is the cheapest.

This site may help:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HealthAndWellBeing
Click the Care Homes link

[bednobs]

have to agree with factor -it seem incredibly selfish (to me) to leave your mum with no assets so that she could chose her own nice care home if she wanted to, so that you(?) can inherit the money her and your dad worked so hard for. personally i would much rather if i was in her position be able to spend MY money on MYSELF to choose perhaps a nicer care home that dosent smell like pee, or to chose to have a room to myself rather than having to share with random strangers for the rest of my life. With care, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. What if your mum had to leave her home and go in care but there was nothing available nearby and she had to be moved out of area, for example?
i dare say it probbaly can be done, but as factor points out there is no time limit if the reason for getting rid of assets is to substantially to avoid care fees -no matter how long in advance she did it she could still be treated as if she had the house

[bednobs]

plus what you are proposing means that i, and all other tax payers are just paying for her care so that you can be richer when she dies!

[buildersmate]

A couple of minor points to add to the contribution of the other two.
1) The threshold for IHT went up to �325k from 1st April 2009.
2) If your father did leave his whole estate to his spouse, the executor of your mother's estate would be able to claim the whole of your father's nil rate band - another �325k - effectively meaning the threshold before any IHT would be paid would be �650k.
3) None of this changes the liability for care home fees - which is an entirely separate issue to that of IHT.