An English Man and Woman’s Home is Their Castle – A Cautionary Note

Roger Dixon, Stamford Bridge Office
 25 Apr 2019

“We don’t want the State getting hold of our house if we have to go into long term care so we want to give the property to our children”.

And so the discussion begins; but there are inherent risks in any such strategy. To give away assets with the intention of accelerating an entitlement to any means tested contributions towards the cost of long term care is susceptible to challenge on the basis that it falls foul of what is called “the intentional alienation of assets” rule.

Furthermore, there are other risks which may not be immediately apparent but are nonetheless worthy of serious consideration.

The gift of the property anticipates that the recipient child will outlive the parents but experience shows that this is not (unhappily) always the case.

Equally, any such gift assumes that the recipient child will not (at some later date) become involved in either divorce or personal bankruptcy. Such events always happen to somebody else (don’t they?) but may entail the most unexpected of consequences for the family at large.

The desire to leave “something” for the next generation is thoroughly understandable but needs to be tempered by sober reflection. Before making any such decisions, parents may well think it worth their while to invest in seeking guidance from an appropriately experienced legal adviser.

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