Advice about joint bank account after DH taken into long term care

4allweknow

If DH was in hospital for 6 weeks or more his benefits will have reduced if not stopped. Sure you are aware DWP have to be informed of his admissions to hospital and care home. As to joint bank account tgere shoukd be no problem you having changed solely to your name. When my DH died I did that with no problem. Credit card issued on the account was dealt with by a new card being issued. You have been dealing with a lot of very stressful situations. Look after yourself.

You cannot just change a bank account to one name only if the other person is still alive. It would need his consent which he cannot give . Power of Atorney would be good but more difficult now . Speak to someone in the bank and try citizens advice as well . Does your husband have a social worker or is there someone in the hospital who can advise ? They used to have years ago but I do not know what the position is now .
I am sorry you are left in this difficult position it must be hard on top of loosing the husband you used to have.

AuntieE

You need to discuss this with your bank manager and the hospital your husband is in should have a social worker who can advise you as well.

Do not continue with a joint account! These are frozen when one holder dies and the other is only able to access the money in the joint account after probate has been granted.

I do not know, but I suspect a joint account may be frozen upon a person being declared mentally incompetent.

Open an account in your own name immediately and notify the source of your income, (employer or pensions office) that all payments from now on are to be paid into it.

I don't live in Britain, so I do not know if you can legally transfer any money from the joint account now into an account in your name. Your bank will know this, so get onto them as soon as humanly possible.

Find out from a solicitor whether you can cancel subscriptions in your husband's name to magazines, clubs etc that he no longer is able to enjoy.And discuss the terms of your husband's will with a solicitor now, as he is no longer competent to change it, or make one, if he never has done so, so you need to know how you and your children will be placed.

I am so sorry to hear of this dreadful illness - you are right that the paranoia is part of his illness. Sadly, such paranoia usually is directed quite unreasonably at the patient's spouse. Try not to take it to heart, but I know this is nearly impossible.

I hope your adult children are a help to you in this sad trial for you all.

That is wrong a joint account is " either or survivor " so it would not be frozen if one of the joint holders dies. I worked in a bank .

Sorry, a bit abrupt before. Yes, you have had a terrible time, so now take a breath - it is a bereavement, so take time to grieve too. If you have help and family around you, let them take up the burden a bit. Make an appointment with Citizens Advice too get expertise.

All benefits will not stop, they will go to his care placement once he has been permanently placed. The six weeks is a grace that you will continue to receive as his permanent home is still yours.

If you are alone and unemployed, you will need to apply for income support, and reduced council tax (you get a reduction just for being a sole occupant), and may get more if your income is low.

Check your state pension, because as a carer, you will have been entitled to NI contributions paid for you.

If HE has any work or private pensions, do contact them to see if his dementia may activate a payment, some do.

I cared for my husband for 11 years and started off like you not really understanding the system. My husband had a massive stroke became paralysed, lost capacity and his speech completely. As he could not agree to a Power of Attorney I had to go the court of protection and apply for deputyship, which is what you will need to be able to administer your husband's money. I see the hospital has discharged him to a care home for access to care. Once they have assessed him the full funding stops. If you are not self funding they will do a financial assessment of your husband's situation, hence at this stage it is very wise to divide your accounts in to two splitting everything 50/50 they cannot touch your 50% but they will take most of your husbands money leaving him with only so much for personal items I think it is around £35 per week at the moment. Your house will be totally disregarded even if you own it. You will as you rightly say have to apply for benefits in your own right. Your husband can apply for attendance allowance if you keep him at home but if he stays in care he will lose that too, you only keep it if you are self funding. Social services will do a needs assessment for your husband if you bring him home and you can have a carers assessment from your local carers organisation or Social Services can do it, but we always find the commissioned care provider (not domiciliary company) is better at assessing carers. You can continue to claim carers allowance if he stays at home until you get your pension, then you lose it as you cannot claim 2 benefits at the same time.

As everyone says Age UK are really good, there are also loads of brilliant carers forums on Face Book, another one is Talking Point on line which is run by the Alzheimer's society, Just put Talking Point in to your browser. Keep asking questions here on GN too there are so many of us with caring experience. I wish you all the best in going forward and really sorry that you have to travel this road too.

You are getting a lot of mixed advice here, each council works differently, so to get the correct information for your area, you do need to take advice from all the places mention up thread.
Good luck. Often it is sadly a post code lottery.

The OP is not applying to the LA but to the health service for CHC funding which carries no financial assessments. That needs to be decided on first. Hopefully LA financial assessments will not be required if this is granted.

CHC funding applies both to care at home and care in a residential/nursing setting.

AuntieE
Do not continue with a joint account! These are frozen when one holder dies and the other is only able to access the money in the joint account after probate has been granted

I’m afraid you are wrong AuntieE. In the UK the funds from a joint account, after one holder’s death, automatically revert to the existing account holder.

I agree with Win, you are getting too much conflicting advice here, please go to Cittizens Advice or Age UK before doing anything.

sankev - what an awful situation you have been plunged into. Although you say that the information is swirling around, I feel that you have a good sense of the position you are in and the challenges ahead. Bit by bit I'm sure you will work things out, with the support of your family.

At 64, you will not yet be getting your state pension yet and you say that you have no savings. Your worry is not whether 50% of assets will be taken into account to pay for care costs, but what you are going to live on. Caring for your DH has been your 'job' for some years now. But that job doesn't come with a wage or a pension does it? I wonder if Carers UK might be able to help you with advice and support?

My mum looked after my dad as his health declined, until he died. Fortunately they had savings, because they only had state pensions and attendance allowance, and she was shocked to realise how much less income was coming in while bills are going up.

Your main preoccupation is obviously your DH's condition, but you need to think about yourself too. I hope that you can get DH home, where he will be more settled, but you need a plan for yourself too.

Luckygirl3

The OP is not applying to the LA but to the health service for CHC funding which carries no financial assessments. That needs to be decided on first. Hopefully LA financial assessments will not be required if this is granted.

CHC funding applies both to care at home and care in a residential/nursing setting.

Where does it say OP is applying for CHC? I can only see she is applying for help regarding her bank accounts and how best to fund her husband's care after his initial access to care. She later says she has decided they will be able to cope at home, I can't see anything about CHC unless I have missed something??

If your husband is no longer able to consent to power of attorney, you will need to get a court deputyship order to manage his financial affairs. This can take quite a while to obtain, and the form is very complex so I would advise seeing a solicitor. Think who you might want to put on as deputies as you can have several, to act jointly and severally.
Someone younger is a good idea as well as yourself.
It would be a very good idea for you to get power of attorney sorted for yourself as you can see what might happen if you become ill yourself. My father's arrived after he died!
It wo

Just wanted to add one thing that may help. If your husband is coming home then please make sure you have the 25% severe mental impairment discount on your council tax bill for him although if you are solely reliant on benefits now you may already be receiving full council tax support so this may not be relevant.
Speak to Age Uk, they can advise on all the issues.

sandye

My mum was in a similar position with Dad. He always had to have at least a few notes in his wallet but was forever losing it. We got toy money and put that in and he was happy. Not lot of help but you may have to take it a bit further and make sure he has an upto date copy of a bank acc statement but just change the date. sorry not a lot of help.

What a good idea for those with dementia. My dad liked some notes in his wallet too.

All suggestions are appreciated. It’s like learning a new language for me at the moment and trial and error with how to handle and interact with him just now. Finding out what works and what doesn’t.