Protecting your estate from care home fees: What you need to know.

12 Aug 2026

Care home costs have become one of the biggest financial worries facing older people and their families across the UK. If your assets are above a certain threshold, the cost of your care is expected to come from your own estate. For people who've spent a lifetime building up savings or paying off a family home, the thought of it being eaten up by care fees, rather than passed on to loved ones, is a real source of anxiety.

So how much are we talking about? 

Average weekly care costs range from around £897 in the North East to £1,298 in the South East. Over a year, that adds up to somewhere between £60,000 and £80,000, often during what should be the most secure years of someone's life. It's no small figure, and it's part of why an estimated 45% of care home residents in England are self-funders, paying for their own care because their assets sit above the means test threshold. *

To put that into perspective, picture a couple in the North East who've spent decades paying off their family home, hoping to leave it to their children. When one of them later needs full-time nursing care, the cost, often over £1,000 a week, means their savings are quickly used up. Because the property counts towards the means test, it can end up being sold to cover the shortfall. Without any planning in place, what was meant to be an inheritance is instead absorbed almost entirely by care fees.

The good news is that with the right planning, families don't have to leave this to chance.

Common myths about hiding assets

A lot of people think that gifting assets, like the family home, to relatives just before going into care is a simple way to protect an inheritance. In reality, local authorities can challenge this if they believe avoiding care costs was a motivating factor behind the gift.

This is known as deliberate deprivation of assets, and there's no fixed time limit on when a council can look into it. A transfer made several years before care became necessary can still be investigated and challenged.

How the council assesses funds

When reviewing a gift or transfer, councils typically consider:

The person's health and circumstances at the time of the gift, including whether there were already signs they might need care.

Whether the transfer was a one-off, unusual transaction for them.

Whether they kept enough money or assets to live on afterwards.

If a council decides a transfer was deliberate deprivation, they can assess the person as though they still owned the asset, and in some cases pursue the recipient of the gift directly for unpaid fees.

"Trusts are only for the wealthy"

Trusts have a reputation as something only for people with significant wealth, but that's not the case. They're a planning tool available to anyone, and when set up well in advance and for reasons beyond simply avoiding care fees, they form a legitimate part of estate planning. If trusts are set up reactively, once care is already needed, that are more likely to be challenged.

"If I give money away and survive 7 years, it's automatically safe"

This is one of the most common misunderstandings we come across. The 7-year rule relates to inheritance tax, not care fee assessments. Deliberate deprivation of assets rules have no equivalent time limit, so a gift can still be investigated regardless of how long ago it was made.

Legitimate ways to protect your estate

While there's no way to hide assets from a care fee assessment, there are genuine, well-established ways to plan ahead and protect what you've worked for:

Property protection trusts

These allow a share of your property to be placed into a trust, often when the first partner in a couple passes away, so that share is protected for your children regardless of what happens with care costs later.

Life interest trusts in a Will

These allow a surviving partner to continue living in the family home for the rest of their life, while ultimately protecting a portion of its value for your chosen beneficiaries.

Gifting early, with the 7-year rule explained

Gifting assets well in advance, as part of considered, long-term planning rather than a reaction to a care need, can be a legitimate way to pass on wealth. The 7-year rule determines whether such gifts fall outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes, though as covered above, it doesn't shield against deprivation of assets rules if care is needed soon after.

Spousal Will planning for couples

Couples can structure their Wills together so that on the first death, a portion of the estate is ring-fenced rather than passing entirely to the surviving partner. This can protect that share from being counted if the survivor later needs care.

Why timing matters

Every option above works best as forward planning, not a reaction to a care need that's already arisen. The earlier a plan is put in place, and the more it reflects genuine, considered estate planning rather than a last-minute attempt to dodge fees, the more defensible it is. Leaving it too late can mean families lose the very protection they were hoping to gain, while also facing scrutiny from the local authority.

Speaking to a solicitor

With so much at stake, and so many myths in circulation, this isn't an area to navigate with a generic online template. Our Private Client team, led by Lisa Caine and Hayley Brown, can talk you through the options available for your circumstances and help put a plan in place that genuinely protects your estate.

Get in touch with Sort Legal's Private Client team today if you'd like to talk through how to protect your estate from care home fees.

To speak with one of our expert Solicitors here at Sort Legal, please contact:

Tel: 0333 323 1091

Email: wtp@sortlegal.co.uk

Source: *UK Care Home Costs by Region 2026: £897 to £1,579/week