Hi, My mother paid $370K to aged care home in Rutherford NSW and has been there since 15th Feb 2017. She has a home that is not rented as yet and I am looking at either renting or selling due to the 2 year rule. House expected to be worth $700K. when looking at the Gov. Residential Care Calculator I am not sure if under “other assetts” we include this $370K as it will be refunded upon her eventual passing or is it classed as “her home” and not be in calcuation for estimates for daily fee and means tested care fee. If any one can assist with guidance it would be appreciated
Hi Rick,
My understanding is that the RAD is exempt from the calculation of the age pension but assessable for the aged care means tested care fee. So that could possibly mean that your mother’s means tested care fee could increase if her RAD increases. For this reason I would suggest you clarify this with a specialist aged care financial adviser. One thing to remember is that the RAD is refundable while the DAP isn’t. The maximum means tested care fee that a resident can be asked to pay each year is capped at $27,532.59 or a lifetime cap of $66,078.27 (as of March 2019). These caps are indexed. Is it worth speaking with a financial adviser as to whether an amount documented as a loan is excluded from being seen as an asset for aged care purposes?
Regards,
Jill
My mother has been in an Aged Care Facility for 4yrs - Her home was sold soon after entering the facility and the net proceeds were placed in a bank account in her name - An assets test was filled in and supplied to Centre Link - She is currently paying a daily fee (85% Pension) a DAP fee of $57.14 per day and a daily means test fee of $6.86 per day. If I (her POA) submit $215000 to the facilities RAD (currently 315 - 350000) apart from the reduced DAP payments, would the Daily Means Test fee be eliminated because her assets are below the $49,500 threshold?
Hi Vegas,AgedCare101 can not give financial advice and we always strongly recommend that people obtain financial advice from specialist aged care advisers particularly around whether to sell or rent the family home. We recommend Affinity Aged Care Financial Services and Sydney Aged Care Financial Advisers. Both have national offices. The house value will be included in your mothers assets up to a capped value of $167, 707 (or net market value of house if lower)if you are not selling it. Since 1 January 2017 rent from the family home is also included in the aged care means test. Our understanding is that a RAD is counted as an asset for ged care purposes but is not counted as an asset for pension purposes. The daily fee is set at $50.66.Up until 31 December 2018 a person who has assets over $167,707 and income over $26,985 would be asked to pay a means tested care fee which is a sliding scale from $1/day up to maximum of $249/day. There is a ceiling of $26,985 payable per year for the means there is a lifetime cap on the means tested fee of $65,357 until December 2018. Once you reach this figure you will not be required to pay any further means tested fee.
I hope this helps,
Aged Care101 team.