With the average cost of care now exceeding more than £500 per week it’s no wonder that people are looking to avoid the cost of long term care. The issue is not only the cost of care but also the amount of time someone potentially can spend in long-term care. With our ever-increasing ageing population this is going to become more of an issue as time goes on and the cost of care is only going to increase.

I’M WORRIED ABOUT THE COST OF CARE, WHAT CAN I DO?

Taking all of this into account it is easy to see how someone’s life savings can disappear in a matter of years due to the cost of their care. However, we have a solution to this issue, which is a Lifetime Trust. This is a trust setup in a person’s lifetime where assets are transferred into trust. This often consists of property and savings and it enables the individual setting up the trust to retain a level of control as to how the assets are used.

For example, they are able to sell the property and use the funds to purchase a new property and they are also able to draw on any monies that they have placed under trust. However, it does mean that in the event of means testing those assets that have been placed in trust will not form part of the estate and thus are protected against the Local Authority using them to pay for the cost of their care.

IF IT’S THAT EASY WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE DO IT?

The reason is the vast majority of people do not consider this sort of planning until such time as it’s too late. Often people start looking to do this only when someone is already receiving care or they have a degenerative illness that forces them to think of these issues. By this time setting up planning such as this is too late. The Local Authority may already be aware of the need for care or the individual may not be in a position to do this sort of planning.

PLAN NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

If someone has a Power of Attorney in place they are not able to take steps to avoid the cost of care as these steps will be seen to benefit themselves and not the person they’re acting on behalf of. For this reason lots of people miss out on the opportunity to protect their assets against care fees. To some extent this is the same reason that 70% of people die without a Will.

If this is of interest to you please read the section on Avoiding Care Fees to find out more or alternatively call us on freephone 0800 028 5119.