It is not uncommon for an elderly person to move in with one of their children when it becomes difficult to manage at home by themselves. It seems like an ideal solution: it enables the elderly person to be with their close family, have access to support and care if it is needed and saves on care home fees; but it can also cause inter-family strife and potential legal issues.
What if the elderly person starts to give money to the child to spend on their home? The other children may, rightly, have concerns that the elderly person is being influenced and persuaded to give or lend money against their true wishes. They may also have concerns about what this means in terms of a fair division of the elderly person's estate when they die: should the money being given come off the inheritance of the child who is sharing their home? Or is it fair that they should have slightly more as a "reward" for looking after the elderly person in their old age?
What if the child starts to restrict other family from visiting the elderly person; seemingly to avoid others being able to influence and rectify the situation?
In this "Ask the Expert" column in the Mail Online, Ann Stanyer, partner and head of Private Client at Wedlake Bell and a specialist in elderly client issues, answers some of these issues.
"My elderly mum is spending money on my brother's home I was expecting to part inherit! Do I have any rights?" – "Ask the Expert" column in the Mail Online (3 June 2014)
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