Hi Everyone
A little introduction.
It's not been a great few years.
Four years ago my mum was seriously ill and spent several months in hospital. During that time a number of incidents happened, outside her control, that led to this stay in hospital being extended and left her unable to stand or walk ever again.
Mum returned home and a very comprehensive care plan was put in place which was funded by the LA. Since then, dad (who is now 89) has been primary carer and still living at home with mum.
Just over two months ago dad had a stroke and he spent several weeks in hospital. Mum then had to go into respite 24 hour care in the hope that dad may be able to go home and be joined by mum.
Unfortunately it has been assessed that both mum and dad now need have 24 hour care and dad is currently in a different care home to mum until a room becomes available and they can both be together again. I should say that they have been married for 62 years so it is obviously very upsetting for us all to not have them together.
Mum and dad have their own house. They also have joint savings of £45,000 although that is split quite substantially in dad's favour with him having around £35k.
This week I am having a meeting with the LA finance team to discuss the funding of both mum and dad's care. I understand that the LA may be looking into whether mum may also be classed as needing a nursing element to her care.
A couple of questions please.
1. Based on the figures above should the accounts be left as they are or would it be advantageous for the amounts of money to be split equally, thereby leaving mum and dad with £22,500 each and under the £23,250 threshold. Or does the fact that they own their own house make that irrelevant?
2. Dad has recovered well and although wheelchair bound still wants and is able to continue to do things prior to his stroke, including getting out to his model aircraft club and other meetings. To do this he needs transport and I am happy to take him to these events. He will need a vehicle to do this and we would therefore like to purchase a wheelchair accessible Peugeot Rifter. One of these will cost around £19,500 which we will privately pay for. Is dad within his rights to purchase this in order for me to then transport him around? My concern is that the LA could consider it a deprivation of assets although we can easily justify the need for such a vehicle.
I did mention earlier that it has not been a great few years. On top of this last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. the signs are that it is not an aggressive form and we are under the active surveillance regime and if it shows signs of getting troublesome then we will deal with it then.
Then if that wasn't bad enough my wife had breast cancer earlier this year. She had a lumpectomy and a course of radiation.
As you can imagine it currently just seems like the sun never shines and this is made all the worse by now having to deal with and organise mum and dad in their respective care homes.
Sorry for the long initial post and hopefully someone can offer some advice.
Thanks
David
A little introduction.
It's not been a great few years.
Four years ago my mum was seriously ill and spent several months in hospital. During that time a number of incidents happened, outside her control, that led to this stay in hospital being extended and left her unable to stand or walk ever again.
Mum returned home and a very comprehensive care plan was put in place which was funded by the LA. Since then, dad (who is now 89) has been primary carer and still living at home with mum.
Just over two months ago dad had a stroke and he spent several weeks in hospital. Mum then had to go into respite 24 hour care in the hope that dad may be able to go home and be joined by mum.
Unfortunately it has been assessed that both mum and dad now need have 24 hour care and dad is currently in a different care home to mum until a room becomes available and they can both be together again. I should say that they have been married for 62 years so it is obviously very upsetting for us all to not have them together.
Mum and dad have their own house. They also have joint savings of £45,000 although that is split quite substantially in dad's favour with him having around £35k.
This week I am having a meeting with the LA finance team to discuss the funding of both mum and dad's care. I understand that the LA may be looking into whether mum may also be classed as needing a nursing element to her care.
A couple of questions please.
1. Based on the figures above should the accounts be left as they are or would it be advantageous for the amounts of money to be split equally, thereby leaving mum and dad with £22,500 each and under the £23,250 threshold. Or does the fact that they own their own house make that irrelevant?
2. Dad has recovered well and although wheelchair bound still wants and is able to continue to do things prior to his stroke, including getting out to his model aircraft club and other meetings. To do this he needs transport and I am happy to take him to these events. He will need a vehicle to do this and we would therefore like to purchase a wheelchair accessible Peugeot Rifter. One of these will cost around £19,500 which we will privately pay for. Is dad within his rights to purchase this in order for me to then transport him around? My concern is that the LA could consider it a deprivation of assets although we can easily justify the need for such a vehicle.
I did mention earlier that it has not been a great few years. On top of this last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. the signs are that it is not an aggressive form and we are under the active surveillance regime and if it shows signs of getting troublesome then we will deal with it then.
Then if that wasn't bad enough my wife had breast cancer earlier this year. She had a lumpectomy and a course of radiation.
As you can imagine it currently just seems like the sun never shines and this is made all the worse by now having to deal with and organise mum and dad in their respective care homes.
Sorry for the long initial post and hopefully someone can offer some advice.
Thanks
David