19 November 2019
Arti and Collette take advice on putting a Power of Attorney in place, and how they can mitigate the care home costs by which Arti’s mother was significantly affected.
Arti learned some lessons in the final years of his mother’s life and following her death. Firstly, he realised the importance of an effective Power of Attorney. Ross had previously recommended these deeds to Arti and Collette, but Arti had foolishly believed that these deeds were for people older than himself!
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However, Ross helped Arti’s mother with this, with Collette and Arti being appointed as her Attorneys. Arti relied heavily on the use of this deed in his mother’s latter years in order to operate her bank account on her behalf, and to make medical decisions for her once she moved into the care home, amongst other things. Arti was astonished by the amount of organisations which knew immediately what this document was, and demanded it before Arti could take any actions for his mother.
Arti had also seen the effect that care home costs could have on his mother’s estate. He sought Ross’s advice in this area. Arti had suggested that they might transfer the title of their house into the children’s names – as they would ultimately inherit the house after Arti and Collette were gone. However, Ross explained the potential negative consequences of such an action and pointed out that this may not have the desired effect. Instead, Ross proposed a revision to their Wills and Title Deeds in order to mitigate the impact of care costs and provided further advice to reduce their capital.
Contact: Ross Brown, Partner and Registered Trust and Estate Practitioner
E: rbr@bto.co.uk / T: 0141 221 8012
