With care home costs averaging £50,000 a year, it is clear why many have jumped at the opportunity to save this large sum of money, at a charge by the company in question of approximately £3,000. The Company told numerous clients that by setting up a trust, the local authority could not access those funds when assessing them for care fees. However, this is not the case. If you create a trust with the purpose of avoiding care home fees, the local authority can still take these assets in to account, when assessing you for care home costs. The local authority can view it as a deliberate deprivation of capital assets. Where this can be shown to be the intention of the person setting up the trust, this will be a key factor in the local authority deciding whether or not to view the formation of the trust in this manner. With care homes being in the press quite often over the last few months, with calls to review care home fees and who runs care homes, this will not be the last type of avoidance scheme that is heard of. For more information on how to plan for your later years please complete our Enquiry Form contact our private client team on 01245 228122 or email privateclient@gepp.co.uk The above is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.
