Property for your parent?

Unfortunately, I find myself in quite a sad situation, which I am sure this forum can relate to.

One of my parents downsized their property a couple of years ago, and has gone from a very comfortable retirement, savings, and superannuation to renting and now filing for Centrelink benefits.

The reason one of my siblings and financial abuse. I am exploring my options around this (legal and government resources)

We are now at the stage, that my other sibling and I are thinking of purchasing a 2br ground floor investment property as tenants in common and taking out a property share loan.

This is actually in line with both our long term goals, so there would be a degree of comfort. My sibling and I have a great relationship and both very professional and trust each other.

Our plan would be for the parent to rent the property off us and give the parent financial security. At the moment this is causing the parent a huge amount of stress.

I know my parent would be claiming Centrelink rental assistance - is this allowable if the owners are related?

Would this impact parents' Centrelink entitlements?

I am also the executor of the will and will sadly need to review it/update. I will also need to discuss with the lawyer - can we include a liability claim against sibling in the will? i.e funds will not be re-paid, can the estate claim against the beneficiary, to go against any future entitlement?

Thank you for your help.

 

Yes you can rent to a parent as per normal.

Yes the will can take into account what has happened and executor can sue to recover money

 

Are you going to rent to your parent at below market rent?

 

I would say in line with the market, we would get it managed via an agent. Need rent to reflect the costs of the property (mortgage, rates etc)

 

I empathize with you. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago, where my sibling helped herself to funds that were not hers. It caused such an emotional upheaval to my mother, that I am sure the stress was an issue when she passed, a year later. If your parent were to put something in there will, the most she can do, I think, is not leave anything to this person, but if your parent has significant assets, your sibling can contest the will. In my case, all was left to me (negligible amount), but mention was made of my sibling, stating that they had already been compensated.

 

Thanks. I will discuss with estate lawyer.

 

This could be very expensive, both emotionally, and financially.

 

We have done similar for one of our parents. They do pay current market rent, but there will be no increases from there for the life of their tenancy. We have also gone a step further and granted then a right of residence in our will. We don't want them being put in a bad position in the event of our death and the property is fully paid off.
We would do the same for our other parents if it became nessecary (and it possibly will at some stage).

 

Sorry to hear that. Yes will discuss with estate lawyer (understanding that the residual assets in the estate will be minimal, so legal fees can outweigh assets!)

The emotional stress on the parent is enormous (often denial and shame)

 

Your parents should be proud of you. Great work and thanks for sharing your story.

 

Get parents to get that will changed asap.

 

Only one who has been in that situation really understands how hard this is. In my case, my sibling was my mother's favourite & I was outcast. I had tried for many years to have a relationship with her, but my sister had always somehow turned her against me. My mother finally reached out, after being in a nursing home (my sister moved her in) for a few years with NOTHING, literally nothing, not even any photos of my father, who had passed many years earlier, finding that her nursing home fees were being dishonored.

After my first trip (six hour drive) I went through all my old photos & brought her back some of my father & found out the huge mess she had been left in. It was not pretty, and the emotional trauma of what my sibling had put her through was nothing short of cruel. We had around 18 months together before she passed, and I have some very fond memories of her during this time. Such simple things as taking her to the animal shelter, to pat some cats brought her so much joy.

 

This! This is one of the first things I did, once we found out what had happened. I told her not to give me anything, give it to charity, just make sure you don't leave it to my sibling. As it turns out, she got a payout due to fraud (sibling). It wasn't much, but so glad it didn't end up with the person that took it in the first place.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses. Just a quick update. My sibling and I had a breakthrough call with my parent. I was able to reconstruct the banking history and collate that my other sibling went through circa $350k of parent funds.

I was able to triage a part of the situation (with parent buy-in) and cancel and close current credit card with $25k limit and change password to banking. This will to an extent safeguard remaining monies.

I am now looking (also got buy-in from the parent) of setting up a new banking platform (everyday account and high-interest savings account)

This will be jointly operated by parent and myself and sibling. Want to put safeguards of having a second approval, if you are trying to transfer money out of the platform (to safeguard against sibling transferring money out of new bank platform)

If anyone has some recommendations, that would be great. Ideally want a branch option for parent. Currently with a big 4 bank (and nothing against setting up a new profile with them). But perhaps CBA? They have great simple technology with the app.

Edit: also spoke with my lawyer, police and elder abuse department. Nothing can really happen from my end, has to be instigated by parent. But at least I have buy in to draw up a loan agreement (will get my lawyer to prepare) to document the repayment from sibling to parent of some of the monies.

Thank you again to all again

 

I am executor of the will. As of breakthrough call, this was off the table. But per my other post, if the 'loan agreement' signed by sibling and parent is documented. The estate could make a claim against monies owing?

 

This is the hardest part of it all. In my case, my mother wanted to lay charges, but the reality of it was that it takes a lot of time before a court case comes up, and her mental health was deteriorating fast from the constant stress that she was under. The police advised me that it would probably be best for my mother to just let it slide, so I told mum that the police had it all under control, and I just let it go.

 

Edit: also spoke with my lawyer, police and elder abuse department

Whaaaat?

 

I would be very wary about having this conversation with your (is it mother or father?) on the phone.

Misunderstandings are pretty easy over the phone.

 

Why??? Is this a requirement to have it at arm's length? Otherwise, I feel that you're wasting a fair amount of money for no good reason.

 

Seems like it would be a better idea to reduce the rent to your mother (or is it father?) by that amount (and somewhat more caring too...).