Wife is in aged care and as such receiving single pension, then husband also goes into aged care and uses the monies from the sale of the family home to pay his RAD, Centrelink now claim that 50% of the monies from the sale of the home should go to wife - meaning that they both have to pay a RAD - but cannot afford this…is this correct? Or should husband be able to use 100% of sale of family home on his RAD?
I would appreciate your advice
Hi there,
Thanks for your question. This scenario does sound like it is correct. I think that the way that Centrelink sees it is that the husband and wife each share 50% in assets and funds they have. So when the wife went into aged care, the husband was a protected person living in the house. Because of this the house was not seen as an asset which would explain why the wife was deemed to receive the pension and receive support with the costs of the aged care home. Now the house has sold, I believe Centrelink sees the couple having the money from the sale of the house, so both the husband and the wife would both have this money. Therefore, the wife’s assets are now half of the house sale and the husband’s assets are half of the house sale. Unfortunately it sounds like this is following the process.
“If you are part of a couple and your home is included as an asset, 50 per cent of the net market value of the home is attributed to each of you. The 50 per cent proportion for each of you will be subject to the full value of the cap that applies at the time. It will be the lower amount of either the cap or the net value of each member’s part of the home that will be included as an asset.”
https://www.agedcare101.com.au/aged-care/working-out-your-finances/assessing-the-family-home
We hope this helps,
The AgedCare101 Team