You have parents who are likely at some time to need long term care. This is very expensive; £500 a week (£26,000 a year) is not excessive in this part of the world at present, and may even be on the conservative side. And that's just for one of them. Unless you are very poor indeed, this is what it will cost them.
Your parents worked hard to buy their house so the moment you start thinking about it, you can see your inheritance disappearing all too quickly as it needs to be sold to pay for the care. What was that; you thought the NHS was 'free at the point of delivery'?
Sorry, it doesn't work like that for long term care. If they have the money, they have to pay up, sooner or later.
But it doesn't need to be like that; all you have to do is plan ahead to stop the house being sold, or a mortgage being placed on it by the Council so they can get the money when your parents have died and the house has been sold. If the long term care bill is greater than the value of the house, what then?
The problem is that most people don't plan ahead to stop the worst happening, which results in thousands and thousands of homes being sold every year to pay for the care. Why is this ? Why don't people do something about it ? I don't know, but you and your parents don't need to be one of them.
There are plenty of (fixed fee) legal steps you and your parents can take to preserve your inheritance; the trouble is, most people leave it too late, or don't bother at all.
So I just need to say again; you need to plan in advance, before the care is needed, if you want to keep your inheritance.
Philip Martin
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