The family home
For most families, the house is the hardest part. It holds the memories, and it's often most of the money too. When a parent moves into care, the questions come quickly. Do we have to sell? What if we rent it out? What happens to the pension if it sits empty for a while? These guides explain how the home is treated for aged care fees and for the Age Pension. Those are two separate sets of rules, and they don't always point the same way. There's no right answer here, just clearer choices.
What happens to the family home when a parent moves into aged care
How the family home counts in the aged care means test and for the Age Pension, who is a protected person, and what changes if it's sold or rented.
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The two-year pension rule for an empty home: when it starts and when it ends
If the house sits empty after a move into care, the Age Pension can ignore it for two years. When that clock starts, what stops it early, and why fees work differently.
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Selling, renting or keeping the home: what changes for fees and the pension
Keeping the house empty, renting it out and selling it each change aged care fees and the Age Pension differently. Each choice side by side, with no right answer assumed.
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Moving in now and selling later: how the timing works
A parent can move into an aged care home before the house is sold. How the room is paid for meanwhile, what changes at settlement, and the timing points to check.
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Giving the home to family or borrowing against it: what to know first
Giving the home to a child doesn't remove it from the means test, and borrowing against it has its own costs. How the gifting rules and home equity loans work.
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