Are You A Carer For Mum Or Dad? Or Both?

You may have never thought of yourself as a ‘Carer’ before? Lots of people see looking after their Mum or Dad as their duty and have never really thought about it. Or have never consciously chosen to be a ‘Carer’ but have been thrust into that situation through circumstances outside their control.

Caring for a parent can be hugely rewarding – but it can also be extremely challenging. Especially if you have children of your own to look after and provide for. This is where the phrase ‘sandwich generation’ comes from – having responsibilities for both older and younger generations of your family.

One of our top tips is for your Mum or Dad (or both) to organise their Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) – for both Finance & Property and for Health & Welfare affairs. If you are caring for your parents already, LPAs become even more pressing as you have to have mental capacity to do this. If you are in this position, I strongly recommend you come to us for professional guidance. We will gently and expertly take you through the process, bringing our later life financial planning expertise to the fore – as carer / attorney you will need to be a later life financial adviser, a care specialist and a lawyer all at once!

If your parents are having issues around understanding or recalling decisions, we have a bespoke mental capacity process to ensure any legal documents like Wills or Lasting Power of Attorney are legally valid and not able to be disputed by the wider family or friends down the line.  We will discuss your health and preferences for the type of future care required – whether that be a preference for care at home or specific homes in the area.

The most important thing is to start having these conversations as a family, as early as possible, preferably facilitated and advised by us as a specialist in this area. Plan ahead for the next stages of your parents’ life – so that when the inevitable time comes to make decisions around the property, their finances, their Will and LPAs, their care choices, their legacy and inheritance tax planning – all of these things have been properly thought through, planned and professionally advised on.

Harold Stephens is a specialist, later life financial and legal planning specialist. We help families plan for later life issues such as care fee planning, inheritance tax, Lasting Power of Attorney and Wills. If you are caring for parents and they have amassed wealth, there are specialist options available that we can recommend to you, to not only fund the care that will give them the dignity in later life they deserve – but also in a very tax efficient way and potentially put a cap on those care costs.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with the office for complimentary initial chat. We can be reached at 50, High Street, Westbury on Trym BS9 3DZ, office@haroldstephens.co.uk or telephone us on 0117 3636 212.