Care Fees Draw A Red Line Down Your Home
Published / Last Updated on 14/01/2022
Many times we have explained about the severance of joint tenancy option on your property. We now take a different tack to explain the message in a simpler way.
When you own a property with someone else you usually own this jointly (legally known as joint tenants).
- Draw a red line down the middle of you home to divide it is half.
- Sign a simple document the you and your partner each own half of the property but you wish to own the house half each.
- You will still have a right to use the other’s half that you do not own (partner own’s) and vice versa.
- This, along with a form is sent to the Land Registry.
- In your wills, you each put your half of the property in a trust for loved ones e.g. your children when you die.
- You will also includes a ‘Life Interest’ stating that your surviving partner can still live in and use your half of the house ‘rent free’ until the day you die.
- On first death, half of the house is now held in trust and the survivors half is still owned by them.
- If the survivor then needs social care in later life only half of the house will be included in any care fees means test.
- You have protected half of the house from any care fees means test in later life.
- This is called a ‘severance of joint tenants’.
Without doing this, the whole of the house would have been owned by the surviving partner after 1st death and the whole of the house may therefore be included in any care fees means test.
Contact us about drawing a red line to protect your home or check out our fees to do this.
