Paying for care, wills etc

[korolev]

This thread : https://www.uk-preppers.co.uk/forum/vie ... 16f2864704
got me thinking about wills.
When my mum in law went into a care home, she had to sell her house to pay for it and we thought "how can we hedge against that happening to us ?"

So we got a solicitor to draw up a joint will where when the first one dies, half the house passes to a trust. The trustees are the surviving spouse and our son. What this means (as I understand it) is that if the surviving partner needs care, then Social Services (SS) can force the house to be sold but can only take half the money, as the other half goes to the trust.
The solicitor said that's the best way of protecting our biggest asset.
We've already said that once one of us goes we will gift most of our savings to our son (or grandchildren should he have kids).

[jansman]

Wills are a good idea. When my wife was expecting our first daughter, my customer, a solicitor told me we needed a Will. We sorted it. 30 years later, when I took ill we sorted a new one for the above reasons and others too. It makes things so stress free! What was better still is that as trade union members ( my wife is a work place rep) our will cost nothing!

I would thoroughly recommend a Will. Our new one has consolidated issues for when both me and wife are no longer here. Indeed illness has made me sort a lot of stuff out!

[Frnc]

It's a good idea, also power of attourney. I've not done either yet.

I just did a UK govt test after searching 'what if you have no will'.
You can to the test here
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Assuming I live longer than my mum, my estate would be shared equally between my brother and sister. I have no kids or partner/spouse.

If my mum outlives me, she gets the lot. Was a bit surprised at that.

I guess she's probably done a will, but if she hasn't, her estate goes directly to us three kids, which is probably what's in her will anyway. She has one brother who's comfortably off I would imagine.

[Vitamin c]

After I became unwell I made a will with legacy wills it was easy not expensive and lifted a lot of pressure off my shoulders.
I recommend making a will ,if you die without one it's nothing but problems for your loved ones.

You make sure who gets what no arguments .

[mbbaltic]

POA makes life so much easier for the people you love when it really matters. Solicitors charge a fortune for them compared with wills but that is because they have to do the due diligence to make sure the donor has capacity.

They are EASY and relatively cheap to do yourself using the online application process,PROVIDED you keep it simple AND you trust the person you are giving POA to. If you find yourself wanting to prejudge what they can and can't do then, yes, you need advice. It suggests that, deep down, you don't trust them 100% - or, what I have seen quite often, it's a lack of trust in offspring's husband/wife.

Having both types of POA for my sister when she had Alzheimer's and had to go into care which had to be funded by selling her flat made an enormous difference. I dread to think how hard it would have been otherwise