Mum has been in a nursing home since 12th July 2017. We paid (loaned) the RAD 500,000.00 out of our own money as mum did not have enough liquid funds to cover this. We chose not to sell the family home, apparently even though the 500K is not her money it is still considered as part of her assets, is this correct?
We had to notify Human Resources of this loan and this is what they informed us and the means tested daily care fee has increased significantly from $1.92/day min that she was paying.
After two years 12th July 2019 her home will also then be considered as an asset (apparently legislation changed in Jan 2017) and even though it is not in liquid funds, her pension will be either reduced significantly or cancelled completely, the house is currently worth of $1.0mil. Therefore her fees will also be increased significantly to a point that we will have to sell the home to simply pay for the fees, we will not have a choice.
Is this correct?
Hi, Mara.
If looking for a Melbourne lawyer who specialises in elder law, you may find that the Law Institute of Victoria can be of assistance. See, perhaps:
https://www.liv.asn.au/Referral
Note by way of general observation that the Law Library of Victoria website mentions a book which was published earlier this year on Australian elder law:
Hi Junior,
Thankyou for your reply - anyone know a legal/financial guru in Melbourne that could assist with this? I just don’t think it’s fair. The RAD was a family loan why should it be part of mum’s assets? We have to sell home next year as it is going to be deemed as an asset through Centrelink, even though it is still the family home and we will be paying much more in nursing home fees. As we don’t have the funds to do this - we will have to sell it no choice…and then her pension will disappear…Great! An absolute mine field…don’t really need this complication as we are already stretched emotionally…you need to have several degrees to understand this…so unfair and so unnecessarily complicated.
There were comments in blog around May 2017 about family members lending money to a parent to pay the RAD, and whether the loan is included in assets. Perhaps not as straight forward as some may think. Might depend on whether the loan is secured or not?
What a pity it is that one’s last days with a loved one might be spent trying to fathom the depths of such matters.
Hi Mara,
Thank you for your question. I see that you entered your question twice (which is ok with us) so I have said the same answer in both places. I would absolutely seek detailed advice from an Aged Care Financial Advisor. Their detailed understanding of the Aged Care system and it’s legislation is what you really need here. They may be able to find a special caveat, or see that in your specific example you qualify for ‘x’. Sorry we couldn’t be more help