Elder Law Solicitors in Exeter: Care Home Fees and Power of Attorney

When an older relative starts to need more care, the legal and financial questions can pile up fast. How much will a care home actually cost? Who pays for it? What happens to the family home? And what if your parent or spouse can no longer make decisions for themselves?

These are not easy conversations, but they are necessary ones. And in Exeter, families dealing with these questions have access to specialist elder law solicitors who handle exactly these situations every day. Whether you are planning ahead or already in the middle of a care crisis, getting proper legal advice early can make a significant difference — not just emotionally, but financially.

Elder law solicitors in Exeter work across a range of services that protect older and vulnerable people: lasting power of attorney, care home fee planning, Court of Protection applications, wills, estate planning, and more. This article walks you through everything you need to know — what care home fees actually look like in practice, how the means test works, when a lasting power of attorney (LPA) becomes essential, and how an experienced local solicitor can help you protect what matters most.

Whether you are acting for a parent, a spouse, or planning for yourself, the information here will help you understand your options and take the right steps at the right time.

What Does Elder Law Actually Cover?

The term “elder law” is not a formal legal category in England and Wales, but it is widely used to describe a group of legal services focused on the needs of older and vulnerable adults. An elder law solicitor in Exeter will typically advise on:

• Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) — both property and financial affairs, and health and welfare
• Care home fee planning and asset protection
• Court of Protection applications and deputyship orders
• Wills, trusts, and estate planning
• NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) eligibility and appeals
• Local authority means testing and funding disputes
• Inheritance tax planning
• Probate and estate administration

Many solicitors working in this area are members of Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE), a national accreditation that signals specialist training and a genuine commitment to acting in the best interests of older clients. When looking for elder law solicitors in Exeter, checking for SFE membership is a good starting point.

Understanding Care Home Fees in England: The Numbers

One of the most common shocks families face is discovering just how much residential care costs. In England, the average cost of a residential care home place currently sits around £35,000 to £40,000 per year, with nursing home care often exceeding £50,000 annually in some areas. Costs in Devon, including Exeter, can vary, but they are broadly in line with national averages.

The critical question is: who pays?

The Local Authority Means Test

If your relative needs residential or nursing care, the local authority (in Exeter, that is Devon County Council) will carry out a financial means assessment to determine how much, if anything, they will contribute.

The rules work on a capital threshold system:

• Above £23,250 in capital assets — the individual is considered a self-funder and pays all care fees themselves
• Between £14,250 and £23,250 — the council contributes on a sliding scale
• Below £14,250 — the council covers the full cost of care (though income is still taken into account)

Capital assets include savings, investments, and the value of the person’s home — with some important exceptions. Importantly, the family home is disregarded in the means test if a spouse, civil partner, or certain other dependants are still living there.

What Counts as Capital?

The local authority will look at:

• Savings accounts and cash
• Stocks, shares, and investments
• Property (including second properties or buy-to-let)
• The value of any property sold or transferred in recent years

This last point matters. If assets have been given away or transferred shortly before a care home application, the council may treat those assets as if they still exist — a process known as deliberate deprivation of assets. This is a complex area where getting qualified legal advice from care home fee solicitors is genuinely important.

What Is NHS Continuing Healthcare and Why Does It Matter?

NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of ongoing care arranged and fully funded by the NHS. Unlike local authority funded care, CHC has nothing to do with your financial assets — it is based entirely on your health and care needs.

If your relative qualifies for CHC, the NHS covers the entire cost of their care, whether in a care home or at home. This can save families tens of thousands of pounds.

The problem is that CHC is notoriously difficult to access. Many people who should qualify are never assessed, or are assessed and refused incorrectly. An elder law solicitor in Exeter can advise on whether someone might be eligible, help you prepare for a CHC assessment, and support you through the appeals process if a decision is disputed.

According to NHS England guidance, a person is eligible for CHC if they have a “primary health need” — but the assessment process involves scoring individual needs across multiple care domains including behaviour, cognition, mobility, and psychological and emotional needs. The complexity of this process is exactly why having specialist legal support matters.

Lasting Power of Attorney: Why It Needs to Happen Before It’s Too Late

If there is one thing elder law solicitors want people to understand, it is this: a lasting power of attorney must be set up while the person still has mental capacity. Once someone loses the ability to make decisions for themselves — through dementia, a stroke, or another condition — it is too late to create an LPA. At that point, family members have no automatic legal authority to act on their behalf, no matter how close the relationship.

The Two Types of Lasting Power of Attorney

There are two separate LPAs in England and Wales:

1. Property and Financial Affairs LPA This gives your chosen attorney the authority to manage bank accounts, pay bills, sell property, and handle financial decisions. It can be used as soon as it is registered, even if the donor still has full capacity, provided they consent.

2. Health and Welfare LPA This covers decisions about medical treatment, where the person lives, and their day-to-day care. It can only be used once the person has lost mental capacity to make those decisions themselves.

Both types of LPA are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), and registration currently takes several months. Starting the process early is strongly recommended.

Who Should You Appoint as Attorney?

You can appoint one or more attorneys, and you can name replacement attorneys in case your first choice is unable to act. Attorneys must be 18 or over and not subject to a debt relief order or bankruptcy in the case of a financial LPA. Choosing someone you trust completely is essential — an attorney has significant legal responsibilities and must always act in the donor’s best interests.

An elder law solicitor in Exeter can help you think through these choices, draft the documents correctly, and ensure the paperwork is completed properly before submission to the OPG.

What Happens If There Is No Power of Attorney?

This is where things become significantly more complicated, and more expensive.

If your relative has already lost mental capacity and there is no LPA in place, someone will need to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order. A deputy has similar authority to an attorney, but the process is far more involved:

• The application itself takes months and can cost several thousand pounds
• Deputies are subject to ongoing supervision and reporting to the OPG
• Annual supervision fees apply
• Any significant decisions may require further court approval

It is not a catastrophe, and families do navigate it successfully with good legal support. But it is significantly more time-consuming and costly than simply having an LPA in place from the start. This is why elder law solicitors in Exeter will consistently tell clients: do not wait.

Protecting Assets from Care Home Fees: What Is and Isn’t Possible

Asset protection is a legitimate concern for families, but it is important to understand what the law does and does not allow.

Legitimate Planning Options

Wills with life interest trusts — If a couple owns a property together, a will can be structured so that when the first person dies, their share of the property passes into a trust rather than outright to the surviving spouse. This can help protect that share from later being used to fund the surviving spouse’s care home fees.

Timely gifting — It is possible to gift assets to family members, but timing is everything. If the local authority believes assets were given away specifically to avoid care fees, they can “disregard” those gifts in the means test, treating the person as if they still own them. Gifts made well in advance of care being needed are treated very differently from those made shortly before a care home application.

Equity release and deferred payment agreements — If someone needs to fund their own care but does not want to sell their home immediately, the local authority is legally required to offer a deferred payment agreement in many circumstances. This means the council pays the care fees and is repaid from the estate when the property is eventually sold.

NHS Continuing Healthcare — As covered above, ensuring your relative is properly assessed for CHC eligibility is one of the most significant ways to reduce or eliminate care costs legally.

What You Cannot Do

You cannot deliberately transfer assets to reduce the means-tested total just before entering a care home. You cannot gift your house to your children a few weeks before a CHC assessment and expect it to be disregarded. Local authorities have strong powers to investigate deliberate deprivation of assets, and the consequences — including being assessed as if you still own the assets — can be serious.

This is precisely why working with qualified care home fee solicitors matters. The rules are nuanced, and well-meaning families sometimes make costly mistakes by acting without advice.

The Role of Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) Accreditation

Not all solicitors who say they handle elder law have the same level of expertise. The Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) accreditation is a recognised marker of specialist knowledge in this area. SFE members have demonstrated particular experience and skill in advising older and vulnerable clients, and they commit to high professional standards in the way they communicate and treat their clients.

When choosing elder law solicitors in Exeter, looking for SFE membership — or for solicitors with Law Society membership in the Private Client section — gives you a reasonable baseline for expertise.

Other things to look for:

• Transparent fee structures with no hidden costs
• A willingness to offer home visits for clients who are housebound
• Clear communication without legal jargon
• Experience with local authority processes in Devon specifically

According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), all practising solicitors must be registered and regulated, and you can verify any firm’s status through the SRA website before instructing them.

Care Home Fees and the Family Home: A Common Source of Confusion

One of the most misunderstood aspects of care funding is the role of the family home. Here is what you need to know:

If the person’s spouse or civil partner is still living in the property, its value is automatically disregarded in the means test. The council cannot force a sale while a dependent spouse remains in the property.

If the property is unoccupied, it will usually be included in the means test after 12 weeks (during what is called the “12-week property disregard” period). After that, if the person is a self-funder, their options include selling the property, entering a deferred payment agreement with the council, or using other assets to fund care.

If a dependent relative or carer lives in the property, there may be grounds to argue for further disregard, but this is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The rules around the family home and care fees are among the most emotionally charged areas of elder law. Families often feel that everything they have worked for is being taken away. A good elder law solicitor in Exeter will not promise miracles, but they will make sure you understand every legitimate option available.

When Should You Get Legal Advice?

Ideally, the answer is: before you need it. The earlier families engage with estate planning, lasting power of attorney, and care fee planning, the more options they have.

That said, it is never too late to seek advice. Even if your relative is already in a care home, a specialist solicitor can:

• Review whether the means test was conducted correctly
• Advise on whether a CHC assessment should be requested
• Help structure remaining assets to minimise future exposure
• Assist with Court of Protection applications if no LPA exists
• Handle disputes with the local authority over funding decisions

If you are earlier in the process and planning for the future, consider getting an LPA in place now, reviewing your will, and having a conversation with a solicitor about what care funding might look like based on your current financial position.

You can find accredited members of Solicitors for the Elderly at the SFE member directory, which allows you to search for specialists in Exeter and the wider Devon area.

Practical Questions to Ask an Elder Law Solicitor

When you first contact an elder law solicitor in Exeter, it helps to go in with the right questions. Here are some worth asking:

1. Are you a member of Solicitors for the Elderly or the Law Society’s Private Client Section?
2. Do you offer a free or fixed-fee initial consultation?
3. Can you advise on both LPAs and care home fee planning, or do you specialise in one area?
4. Do you have experience dealing with Devon County Council on means testing disputes?
5. Can you visit clients at home if they are unable to travel?
6. What are your fees for drafting an LPA, and how long does registration typically take?
7. Do you advise on NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility?

Good solicitors will answer these questions clearly and without pressure. Be cautious of anyone who promises guaranteed asset protection or makes the process sound simpler than it is.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

It is worth being direct about this: the cost of not planning ahead — or of making the wrong decisions without legal advice — can be enormous.

A family that gifts a property to avoid care fees, only to have the local authority disregard the transfer, may find themselves in a worse position than if they had done nothing. A family that delays setting up a lasting power of attorney until after a diagnosis of dementia may face thousands of pounds in Court of Protection costs, plus months of delay during which no one has legal authority to manage the person’s affairs.

By contrast, a properly drafted LPA can cost a few hundred pounds. A well-structured will with a life interest trust adds modest cost but can protect a significant share of a property. These are small investments relative to the care costs that can follow without planning.

Elder law solicitors in Exeter are not selling fear — they are helping families make informed, practical decisions at one of the most difficult times in their lives.

Conclusion

Navigating care home fees, lasting power of attorney, and the legal frameworks around later life planning is genuinely complex, but it does not have to be overwhelming. Elder law solicitors in Exeter offer specialist, practical support across every stage of the process — from setting up a lasting power of attorney while someone still has full capacity, to challenging a local authority means test, pursuing an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment, or applying to the Court of Protection when no LPA exists.

The key messages are consistent: plan early, take proper legal advice, and do not assume the family home or savings are automatically protected. Whether you are planning for yourself or supporting an older relative through a care transition, working with an accredited elder law solicitor in Exeter gives you the best chance of understanding your options, protecting your assets within the law, and making decisions that reflect what matters most to your family.