Would you know what would happen if property where father resides alone is jointly owned with my husband and myself and my father needs to go into aged cared…would we have to sell the property? The arrangement when we purchased the property was for dad to live there rent and expenses free and upon his death his half share would be left to us. He now needs to go to a nursing home and we dont want to have to sell the house as it is our only form of superannuation and he doesnt want it sold either but not sure what we do…can you help?
Thank you so much for your assistance…I will be making an appointment for financial assistance shortly to have everything sorted and ready in advance should the need arise for permanent care.
Hi mum2153,Robert Craven from Affinity Aged Care Financial Services has come back to me with the following response to your last query:When assessing a persons assets to determine their aged care fees, when they move to permanent residential care, their former family home is assessed at a capped rate (currently $168,351.20) unless a protected person continues to live in the home. If the person owns 50% of the home and this 50% is equal to or greater than $168,351.20, their 50% share will be assessed at the capped rate.Now, as I understand, your father was living in the home by himself so a protected person wasnt/wont be living there on the day that he transitions to permanent residential care. As such, the home will be assessed at the capped rate of $168,351.20. In addition, he has $80,000 in a term deposit &, say $1,000 in household contents & a car.His assessable assets will therefore be:Former family home: $168,351.20Financial assets: $80,000Ho351.20Your father will therefore be assessed as a market payer & he will initially be required to pay the RAD/DAP for the room he has selected in the facility.Now, to qualify for financial hardship, his assets need to be equal to or less than 1.5 times the single age pension currently $36,121.80.Because the former home is jointly owned he can apply for it to be assessed as an unrealisable asset possibly also for the household contents & car. That leaves the $80,000 term deposit. When this reduces to $36,121.80 he could apply for financial hardship, not before.If you wish to discuss this further you can contact Robert Craven at Affinity Aged Care
Hi mum2153,I have contacted Robert Craven to clarify the information. I will post his response when I receive his reply.
Regards,
Jill
Thanks for the response buy I’m a bit confused if we don’t want to sell and his assets are equal to or less than $36121.80 he could apply for financial hardship on the basis the house is an unrealiseable asset and if his assets are valued at more than $36121.80 he may be able to apply for an asset to be declared unrealiseable as part of a hardship agreement. The response seems to be the same if below or above the $36121.80 so that is where my confusion is or am i reading it wrong. He has $80000 in a term deposit and household contents and an old car which is worth nothing. We will get financial advice definitely but I’m trying to allay his fears as he goes into respite with a view to permanent care. Thank you for your time its much appreciated.
Hi mum2153I passed your query onto Robert Craven at Affinity Aged Care Financial Services who has come back with this response:There has been no mention of your father having any other assets, however, assuming the market value of the family home is greater than $336,702 your father’s half share will be assessed at the capped rate (currently $168,351.20) and he will be assesed as a RAD payer.If you and your husband do not wish to sell the house, assuming your father has other assets equal to or less than $36,121.80 (1.5 x the single rate of the age pension), he could apply for financial hardship on the basis that the house is an unrealiseable asset. If care recipients have assets valued at more than $36,121.80 (from 20 March 2019), they may be able to apply for an asset to be declared “unrealiseable” as part of their hardship assessment. An asset is considered unrealisable if the care recipient cannot sell it or borrow against it. The following assets may be considered unrealiseable :a house that has been on the market for 6 months or more jointly owned property gifting where the decision to gift was made when the person was incapacitated or was made by a Power of Attorney frozen assets. If your father’s hardship application is approved, the RAD/DAP would not be payable and the facility would receive the Concessional Supplement in lieu. Your father would still be required to pay the Basic Daily Fee of $51.21 (85% of the basic rate of the age pension).Age care finances are often not straight forward which is why we strongly recommend that people seek specialised financial advice. Regards