Providing for the future

[pearl]

A scary subject I know when the day to day stuff is more than enough to deal with, but I thought I'd share something I found out recently, apols if you already know.

 

If you own your own home and leave it to your child when you die, did you know that if they need a care package that home will be sold to pay for it in exactly the same way it is when old peeps have to go into a home?

 

I had no idea until my friend told me. Her son is autistic & likely to always need some form of support. She researched how best to protect him & ended up placing her home in trust for him so that SS cannot access that money. So in theory he could then live in that home with support. She hired a specialist firm of solicitors & I accompanied her to do all the signing up.

 

She has come across parents who have willed their whole property to their autistic child, leaving out the NT ones, on the assumption that the autistic child needs more help. In reality that is the worst thing they could possibly do, at least if the property is divided between all the children there will be a proportion that cannot be touched.

 

We are hanging fire at the moment, as it is looking as if JP will be able to live independently, in which case no additional provision needs to be made. On our death our property will be split equally between him & S. But I wouldnt hesitate to do as my friend did should circumstances change.

 

If anyone wants the name of the solicitors she used (Manchester area) please pm me.

[barefoot wend]

If anyone's interested, I know that Mencap are very helpful and run seminars across the country on this very topic. See their website.

 

Barefoot

[Sooze2]

Blimey, thankyou. I didn't realise that! 18 months ago we bought a 3rd property, we have 2 rented out. The theory being that the children will be sorted when the time comes for them to leave home and have families etc. Also we won't have much of a pension so hopefully the rent will pay for us to live when we retire. It sounds flash but we bought the other 2 when house prices were extelemy low in the late 80's and late 90's so not flash just fluke.

 

Anyway, we just asumed that the children would get a house each and be sorted financially for their futures. Its looks as though we will need to put some sort of plan into action then.

[pearl]

If anyone's interested, I know that Mencap are very helpful and run seminars across the country on this very topic. See their website.

 

Barefoot

 

Thanks Barefoot I didnt know that

[pearl]

Found a link here

(mods please delete if its against the rules, I never have a clue about these things)

[baddad]

It says it all in the mencap stuff, but the main things to take care of are that there are always at LEAST two beneficiaries to a trust fund (otherwise it's exactly the same as leaving the money directly to one child), and that the trust is a DISCRETIONARY trust, so the trustees have final say on what they will or won't allow to be paid for with funds from the trust...

Mencap do offer a trust management service at very reasonable fees, but i think the minimum amounts for setting up the trust are quite high(?)...

 

[Kathryn]

I haven't really got my head around this stuff yet, but I know I'm going to have to sooner or later, so thanks for the links and info.

 

K x

[Bagpuss]

Thanks for the information Pearl. I'm going to come back and read the link when my mind feels abit clearer.

 

We've been talking for some time now about re-writing our wills. We are so aware that youngest DD (if she outlives us) will need life long support, both for ASD and MD. We can't even predict how physically disabled she will be and I know she will never live independantly. We had kind of assumed we could leave the majority of our assets to her, with some form of guardian who would have her best interests at heart and make sure she had the care and support she needed, and had assumed the house would be sold to provide that.

 

Will be back to read through all this again properly.