Fair Deal - If my parents no longer live together but are not legally separated how is their income/assets assessed ?

I am currently trying to complete the Fair Deal nursing home loan application but I'm having some issues.

My father has dementia but no EPOA is in place. The family are currently applying for DMR but this may take a long time. He is currently in a transitional nursing home while we process the Fair Deal scheme however we have an unusual situation.

• My mother and father are joint owners of a property
• My parents are separated in that they no longer live together and have not done so for 7 years. No legal proceedings were undertaken to separate.
• My Father until recently was the primary resident at the house but is now in a temporary care facility while we process the Fair Deal scheme on his behalf. The house is now unoccupied.
• He is no longer capable of making his own decisions as he has a diagnosis of dementia. We are also in the process of applying for a Decision Making Representative (DMR) on his behalf at this time.
• The application asks if he one of the following: Single/ a Couple and cohabiting/a Widower/Divorced or Separated.
• If they are not legally separated are they still assessed from a legal perspective as a couple ?

My Question:
Is my mother still seen as his spouse even though they are living separate lives?
Should her income and her assets be jointly assessed as part of the Fair Deal scheme?
If the house is sold while he is in care is Mums share of the house seen as a couples income and can be used to pay for his care ?
The house will fall into disrepair if left unoccupied for the foreseeable future with no accessible funds to keep it ticking over as EPOA is not in place. My family are not in a position to pay to leave this empty.

Anyone with advice on how to proceed? My time is ticking to get this documentation submitted and I want to do best by both of them. I want my mum to be financially secure and not have the headache of the upkeep of an empty house.

I have no experience of how they deal with separations but this must come up frequently. I always found the F/D office very helpful with queries. To ensure your application is dealt with ASAP, phone and enquire before you complete and send in the application.

Regarding the house that they jointly own, your dad will only be assessed on half its value.
Your dad is in care now but not yet under F/D. Bear in mind, if the house is sold before he is in under F/D he will be assessed on half the house sale proceeds indefinitely.
If the house is sold when he is in under F/D he will only be assessed on half the proceeds for 3 years.

Des Pondent said:

I have no experience of how they deal with separations but this must come up frequently. I always found the F/D office very helpful with queries. To ensure your application is dealt with ASAP, phone and enquire before you complete and send in the application.

Regarding the house that they jointly own, your dad will only be assessed on half its value.
Your dad is in care now but not yet under F/D. Bear in mind, if the house is sold before he is in under F/D he will be assessed on half the house sale proceeds indefinitely.
If the house is sold when he is in under F/D he will only be assessed on half the proceeds for 3 years.

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Didn't they change that assessment of cash from a house sale some years ago? The cash is assessed for 3 years as if it were the house.

Yeah, that’s right. My understanding though is it only applies if you sell when already in a nursing home under F/D. If you sell before F/D the proceeds are cash and will be assessed indefinitely.

The O/P dad is in a nursing home but not yet in the F/D scheme and the family are not ‘’in a position to pay to leave the house empty’’.

It would be best if possible to ensure the dad has F/D in place before selling.

Thanks for the clarification, I had missed the "while you are in care" bit

Des Pondent said:

I have no experience of how they deal with separations but this must come up frequently. I always found the F/D office very helpful with queries. To ensure your application is dealt with ASAP, phone and enquire before you complete and send in the application.

Regarding the house that they jointly own, your dad will only be assessed on half its value.
Your dad is in care now but not yet under F/D. Bear in mind, if the house is sold before he is in under F/D he will be assessed on half the house sale proceeds indefinitely.
If the house is sold when he is in under F/D he will only be assessed on half the proceeds for 3 years.

Click to expand...

Thank you. That is very helpful.
The house will not be sold before we have the F/D scheme in place for him so thank you for the clarification regarding how it will be assessed before/after the sale.
We've a lot to do before it would be ready for sale including having the DMR in place so it will be at least a year empty I imagine.