WE WANT TO HELP OUR MUM
Q. I am one of 7 siblings with a mum aged 89 and failing health. Some of my siblings are still affected by the recession, coronavirus and the more recent cost of living crisis so overall we do not have the money to maintain her at home. Our mum also does not have the savings to keep her at home which is mortgage free and worth c. € 650K. Her only income is the State pension – our dad died 5 years ago pensionless. We don’t want to send her to a nursing home as we would like her to stay in her own home for the last few years of her life. Have you any suggestions ? Martin – Dundrum Dublin 14
A. The positive news Martin is the “LifeLoan” is making a comeback. This was originated by Bank of Ireland in the late 80s whereby a loan is taken out on the home and no repayments of any kind are made by the borrower until either your mum passes on or she moves out to a nursing home. The providers in recent years ran out of funding sadly but with our aging population and the rising equity in properties, it was only a matter of time before a provider reintroduced this loan. Spry Finance are now the only equity release lender in the Irish market – email me for details. Meanwhile you could find out which of the family have the strongest relationship with their bank and approach them with a request. Offering the title deeds of your mum’s home as security by way of equitable deposit of the title deeds, the bank could approve an overdraft at a reasonable interest rate guaranteed by the siblings to maintain your mum at home. This is a time to assess and budget your mum’s needs – disabled bathroom downstairs, a bedroom move downstairs, the cost of two full time live-in nurses – night and day – including PRSI & USC on a monthly basis, and borrow on an annual basis repaying that overdraft when the inevitable happens. Like the advert, because she’s worth it .. !