Paying off Care fees: they are a debt on the estate and may be secured on the home.
Q: Hi, I and my brother and sister are inheritors to our deceased parents estate. A house in very poor condition is left. It has to be sold and money to be taken to pay off care fees. Because of the condition of the house a large investment is required for it to be sold at the “going rate”.My sister wants to do this but cannot afford the house and the investment required. Can we sell her our share so she then owns the house? Would the care-home bill be payable when she sells the house?Many Thanks.A: I think you will find that Paying Off Care Fees is required pretty soon to avoid Court action! If they are not paid off as quickly as reasonably possible, the executors are then the ones who could end up in Court.Depending on how much it is, any money ploughed into the house could also go to care fee repayment, if the fees are more than the value of the home before improvements carried out by the executors.It doesn’t sound like her plan will work, unless she can raise the money to pay off care fees and buy your share too. (Otherwise whoever they are owed to may force a sale – the executors should talk to them promptly and find out their attitude.)I have attached a copy of a booklet on protecting assets from care fees so you can warn others.Sorry!PS The Local Council will not normally force a sale if the property is shared with a dependant relative over 60 or under 16 – which does not seem to be the case here.The booklet at www.Asset-Protection-Secrets.co.uk is well worth reading through as it gives several pays of protection your home against creditors – though not local authorities if the intention is to avoid Care Fees. Other creditors can be ex-wives or husbands, unexpected business debts, Court awards for accidents, claims from people under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 from people who think that the deceased should have left them something and all sorts of others.