Paying for dementia care if you have a partner

Does your spouse or partner have to pay for care? 

The financial assessment should only take into account the finances of the person who needs care. The (Health and Social Care) HSC trust has no power to take any joint resources into account.

How these assessments work is slightly different when paying for care in England or care in Wales.

If you have a joint account or other shared assets

In Northern Ireland, if the person has joint bank accounts or other assets held jointly, the assessment can only include the share belonging to them.

It will be assumed that the person’s share is half (50%) of these joint assets, unless they can show otherwise.

Can you give away assets to avoid care fees? 

A person in Northern Ireland may intentionally get rid of assets such as property or money to reduce the amount they need to pay for their care. This may be classed as a deliberate deprivation of assets.

For example, this might be giving money away to someone else or transferring ownership of a property into someone else’s name.

Deprivation of assets 

When the HSC trust is deciding whether someone has intentionally reduced their assets for care fees, they will consider two key things:

• The purpose – avoiding the charge does not need to be the person’s main reason but it must be a significant one.
• The timing – the timing of the disposal should be taken into account when considering the reason for the disposal.

If the trust think the person has deliberately reduced their assets, they may still include the value of those assets in the financial assessment.

If another person has benefitted from the deprivation, they may be made responsible for covering the costs.