Mother needs to move in with us in a few years

[taichiperson]

My father died two and a half years ago, and my mother lives on her own - she's 76 and in good health and I am an only child. We accept that at some point she will have to move in with us, but the house will need some work. We barely have the money to do repairs ourselves, but she owns her house outright and has a good pension thanks to my father.

Where would we stand legally if she paid for us to extend and improve the house, using her own place as collateral? I'm not sure how this would work so any suggestions would also be helpful. She has made her will and I will be the sole beneficiary - so anything she has will come to me in the end. She has an insurance policy that would cover her should she ever need to go into fulltime care - it's expensive but I understand if she stops paying she won't get anything back. Her mother lived into her nineties so despite a weak chest we are not expecting her to be departing this life any time soon.

[sara3]

why don't you both sell up and buy something more suitable?

[taichiperson]

That's not an option - my husband was born here and intends to end his days here.

[taichiperson]

I forgot to mention - we have a small mortgage on the house that will be paid off in ten years.

[sara3]

he was born in your house?

[taichiperson]

Yes - I guess that gives away our age, nowadays most births are in hospital or maternity wards, apart from the brave souls who have home births.

[jackthehat]

In this scenario, do you mean that your mother advances you some money 'now' so that you can have the house adapted, meaning that when, in the future, she needs to move in with you, your house is suitable for her needs ?

[taichiperson]

We haven't thought this through thoroughly, but yes that would be the best option. She might not have enough in savings to pay outright, so perhaps she might have to take out some loan with her hosue as security? I'm pretty clueless as t ohow it might work.

[jackthehat]

You need to identify exactly what you need to do/would like to do in your own house in order to accommodate your mother now and in the future.
Get firm prices from reputable builders as to how much this will cost.
You may have a better idea of your options once you have this figure to hand; perhaps a guaranteed loan, an equity release scheme, etc.

[MarkRae]

1) Your mother owns her current house outright
2) You are the sole beneficiary of her will

So, why doesn't she simply sell her house and give the money to you (you're going to get it anyway), which you then use to pay for the building work?

Have I missed something here...?

[jackthehat]

I think Mum is wanting to stay where she is for the present, Mark, but taichiperson and her husband want their house to be fully ready for 'when' Mum comes to live with them...

[taichiperson]

The money isn' t really the issue - our legal standing is more on my mind - does it affect ownership of the property if she has paid for it to be extended? And might the house be in danger if she has to go into care and her insurance policy doesn't pay out? We are thinking of the future - at the moment she can manage on her own, and we are enjoying some alone time. I love her dearly but having her around 24/7 would drive me mad - she's not a very independant person and relies on us to get her around as it is, despite being quite capable of getting on a bus! We are thinking of about 5 years or so. She is more or less happy where she is, as that's where she and Dad lived and she has neighbours who are friendly and helpful, wheras we are quite isolated and we would be in each others' pockets.

[jackthehat]

The only property taken into consideration were she to go into residential care would be a property which 'she' owns...........She can sell her house, give you *all* the money to extend your home and it won't have any impact whatsoever on yours.

Is it possible to extend your property so that although she lives with you, she can live quite separately ?

[taichiperson]

Thanks for that, Jack - it's what I was looking for, although we will look into it in more detail, I just wanted to know if there was anything in our way as it were.

It's a possibility to extend as you say, it's early days. At the moment we are looking at external space, and internal space is negotiable.