Can you protect your home from care fees?
You can protect part of your home, legitimately. You cannot protect all of it, and the popular shortcuts are the ones councils are specifically looking for.
The short answer
- Your home is ignored entirely while a partner, a relative over 60, an incapacitated relative or a child under 18 still lives in it.
- The reliable protection is a property protection trust in a couple's wills — it ring-fences the first partner's share, usually about half.
- Giving your home away, or moving it into a lifetime trust, can be reversed under the deliberate deprivation of assets rules. There is no time limit.
- The 7 years-year rule people quote is an inheritance tax rule. It has no application to care assessments.
- A deferred payment agreement can stop a forced sale now, with fees settled from the property later.
What's on this page
When your home is already protected#
Before considering any planning, check whether the property is disregarded anyway. In England, your home is left out of the capital assessment while any of these people live there:
- your husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner;
- a relative aged 60 or over;
- a relative who is incapacitated;
- a child of yours aged under 18;
- in some circumstances, an estranged or divorced former partner who is a lone parent.
It is also disregarded for the first 12 weeks of a permanent care placement, giving families breathing space to make decisions.
What genuinely works#
1. A property protection trust in your wills#
The main tool. You own the home as tenants in common; each will leaves that partner's share into trust rather than to the survivor. The survivor lives there for life, but the trust's half is not their capital and is generally excluded from their means test.
It is legitimate because it is triggered by a death, not by giving anything away. Full guide, including how to check your ownership type.
2. A deferred payment agreement#
If you do have to pay, this lets the council secure the fees against the property, so it is sold after death rather than immediately. It does not reduce the bill, but it prevents a rushed sale and lets a home stay in the family in the meantime — sometimes rented out to help cover the fees.
3. Making sure you are getting what you are entitled to first#
Before any planning, check entitlement to NHS Continuing Healthcare, which covers the full cost of care where needs are primarily health-related, and NHS-funded nursing care contributions. Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. A great many families pay fees they were never obliged to pay.
What does not work#
If a council concludes you disposed of an asset in order to reduce a care charge, it can treat you as still owning it ("notional capital"), and in some circumstances recover the money from whoever received it. The two questions are: did you know care was a realistic possibility at the time, and was avoiding the charge a significant reason for the transfer? There is no time limit on this assessment.
Signing the house over to the children#
The most attempted, and one of the worst ideas in personal finance. It:
- can be treated as deliberate deprivation, so the council assesses you as if you still owned it;
- stays in your estate for inheritance tax anyway if you carry on living there rent-free (gift with reservation of benefit);
- exposes the property to your children's divorces, bankruptcies and creditors;
- loses the capital gains tax uplift on death, potentially creating a large bill for your children when they sell;
- leaves you with no legal right to remain in your own home.
Lifetime "asset protection trusts" sold at seminars#
Frequently mis-sold, often costing thousands, and regularly ineffective for the purpose promised. Warning signs: a cold call or free lunch seminar; a guarantee that your home is "safe from the council"; pressure to sign on the day; a large upfront fee for a trust you did not go looking for. Trading Standards has pursued firms in this space repeatedly.
Spending it down deliberately#
Unusual purchases or large gifts shortly before an assessment invite exactly the scrutiny you are trying to avoid.
Straight answers to what people actually ask#
| The question | The honest answer |
|---|---|
| Can I protect my whole house? | No. About half, via a will trust, if you are a couple. |
| Will giving it to the kids work? | Usually not, and it creates several new problems. |
| Does the 7-year rule apply? | No. That is inheritance tax. Care assessments have no time limit. |
| Can they force a sale? | Not usually, and not while a qualifying person lives there. A deferred payment agreement is the alternative. |
| Is it too late once care has started? | For asset transfers, yes — but check Continuing Healthcare and the 12-week disregard. |
What to do this week#
- Check whether you own your home as joint tenants or tenants in common.
- If you are a couple and want the protection, sever the joint tenancy and write wills containing the trust.
- Set up lasting powers of attorney — without them nobody can act for you at the point it matters.
- Check entitlement to NHS Continuing Healthcare before paying anything.
- Take regulated advice before moving any asset out of your name.
What could your family actually keep?
Use the trust savings calculator to see the allowances that apply to your estate, and how much of your home could be protected. Two minutes, no sign-up.
Free introduction · Regulated advisers only · We may be paid a referral fee, which never affects our guidance.
Frequently asked questions
How much of my home can I actually protect?
Realistically about half, through a property protection trust in a couple's wills. The survivor's own share stays assessable. Anyone offering to protect the whole property is describing something that either will not survive scrutiny or comes with consequences they have not explained.
Does the seven-year rule protect gifts from care fees?
No. This is the most persistent myth in the area. The 7 years-year rule concerns inheritance tax on lifetime gifts. Local authorities assessing care charges apply the deliberate deprivation of assets rules under the Care Act 2014, which contain no time limit whatsoever.
What if I give my home away while I am fit and healthy?
The deprivation argument is weaker if care was genuinely not foreseeable, but the tax and practical problems remain: reservation of benefit if you keep living there, loss of the capital gains uplift on death, and exposure to your children's creditors and divorces. It is rarely the right answer, and never one to take without regulated advice.
Can the council take my house while my husband still lives in it?
No. The property is disregarded from the capital assessment while a spouse, civil partner or partner still lives there. The exposure arises later — on the second death or if the survivor also goes into care — which is exactly the gap a property protection trust is designed to close.
Are these rules the same in Scotland and Wales?
No. The £23,250 and £14,250 thresholds are England's. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own limits, and Scotland provides free personal and nursing care contributions. Everything here covers England & Wales.
This is general information, not legal advice. Everyone's situation is different — speak to a qualified adviser before acting. KeepTheLot is an independent information service covering England & Wales. We are not a law firm.
Part of our guide to trusts.