When one partner moves into care and the other stays home

One of the most common situations families face: Dad needs an aged care home, and Mum stays in the family home, or the other way round. The rules treat the couple's money in particular ways. Knowing them helps both partners work out their budgets.

The home is protected while the partner lives there

While the partner at home keeps living there, the home is left out of the aged care means assessment. The same applies if a dependent child lives there.

The Age Pension also protects the home while a partner lives in it.

The protection lasts only while the partner (or dependent child) lives there. If they move out, go into care themselves or die, the home may start to count. That change needs to be reported to Services Australia within the required time.

The couple's other money is split in half

For the aged care means assessment, the couple's income and assets are added together and split in half. Each partner is treated as owning half, whatever name things are in. This happens even though only one partner is moving into care.

The partner in care is then assessed on their half. So:

• savings used to pay fees reduce the couple's total, and so both partners' halves;
• a lump sum paid for the room counts as a joint asset, so it can affect the other partner's fees too if they later need care.

The Age Pension works differently. A lump sum your parent pays for the room isn't counted as an asset for the pension, so paying it can increase the pension for both partners.

Who pays the fees

The partner at home doesn't pay aged care fees for themselves. The fees belong to the partner in care. But because the money is shared, the fees and any decisions about the home affect both.

The partner at home still has their own living costs: the house, bills, food and transport. It's worth looking at the household budget as a whole, not just the aged care fees.

The Age Pension may change

When one partner moves into care, the couple is usually treated as separated by illness for the Age Pension. That can mean each partner is paid at a higher rate than the usual couple rate, because they now run two households. Their income and assets are still looked at together, though. What changes is that the pension cuts out at a higher level than it would for a couple living together.

Services Australia decides this. Tell them as soon as your parent moves into care.

What our calculator does and doesn't cover

The Aged Care Costs calculator gives an estimate of the fees, with the home counted as it is today, and compares the ways of paying for the room.

For couples, it works out the fees and the Age Pension whether one or both partners are in care. It treats the couple as living apart because of illness, which is usual when a partner lives permanently in care. Services Australia makes that decision.

It doesn't yet work out the Age Pension when:

• the partner no longer lives in the home (for example, they've moved out or died), because the timing depends on dates we don't ask; or
• the home is being sold.

Where these apply, the results say so, and the figures should be checked with Services Australia or an adviser.

Things to check

• Who lives in the home, and whether that might change.
• What the partner at home needs to live on, before deciding how to pay for the room.
• How a lump sum would affect both partners, including if the second partner later needs care.
• The pension: whether the couple has been assessed as separated by illness.

A licensed financial adviser who specialises in aged care can look at both partners' finances together.

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