Could care fees put your family’s inheritance at risk?

With care costs often exceeding £1,000 per week, estates can quickly be depleted – sometimes forcing the sale of the family home. Many assume their property will automatically pass to their children, but that isn’t guaranteed.

Without the right Will in place, if a surviving spouse later needs care, the full value of the home could be used to fund it – leaving nothing for their children.

Don’t rely on assumptions:

• The council won’t automatically pay.

• Your home isn’t automatically protected.

• Your children aren’t guaranteed to inherit.

The right Will can help protect your home, secure your spouse’s future and ensure your children ultimately inherit.

We’re proud to support Police Care UK in promoting the importance of legacy giving. With 42% of its income coming from gifts in Wills, legacy support helps fund vital services for those who live with the impact of trauma experienced in policing.

To learn more about leaving Police Care UK Gift in your Will or accessing Harvey Howell Solicitors’ FREE consultation service for the police family, visit > Harvey Howell

Loss of capacity can happen suddenly — through illness, accident, stroke or dementia — not just old age. Once capacity is lost, many options disappear completely.

 Families are often unable to access bank accounts, pay bills, deal with your home or make other urgent decisions:

• Decisions about care, treatment or where you live can be taken out of the family’s hands and made instead by social workers.
• Court involvement can become unavoidable, and is often expensive, slow and stressful.

These problems are usually preventable if addressed in time by Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) – but you must act whilst you still have the capacity to make decisions for yourself.

There are two types of LPA:

1. Property and Financial Affairs – allowing your attorneys to deal with matters such as bank accounts, bills, pensions and property.
2. Health and Welfare – covering medical treatment and care decisions, including where you live and how you are cared for.

Here is a real life example of how catastrophic things can be if you don’t plan ahead:

We acted for the family of a widower who had a severe stroke – whilst in hospital the pipes burst in his house – causing £80k worth of damage. He had insurance BUT insurers would not speak to the family (they were not the policyholder).

They had to make an application to the Court to get the power to make the claim which took months. When they eventually made the claim, the insurers refused to pay out because the house was unoccupied for so long before the claim. The house developed spores from the flooding and was demolished – uninsured. To add insult to injury, social services put the dad into a care home – against the wishes of his family.

These problems could have been avoided if the children had LPAs in place – they would decide.

Act now, before it’s too late!

Check back soon for the next question in the series.