Your Money Q&A with Noel Whittaker
Q MY husband and I live in a retirement village and own/lease a small unit and have some savings. We receive the age pension. We are told we may soon receive an inheritance of maybe more than $500,000 – a large amount. How will this affect us and is there any legal way to give some of it away to the needy?
A THE inheritance will certainly affect your pension. For example, if your total assessable assets were $150,000 now, your combined fortnightly pension would be $1384.40. If these assets increased by $500,000 your pension would drop by $844.50 a fortnight or $21,957 a year. I agree that this is a substantial amount, but I am sure if you take good advice you could make more than this on the $500,000 if it was invested wisely.
The most you can give away for Centrelink purposes is $10,000 a year, with a maximum of $30,000 over five years.
Q MY wife and I are in our 80s and live in an independent living unit at a retirement village. Our assets are in a family trust and include shares, a commercial property leased out for monthly income, and we receive a part pension. If either one of us had to go into a nursing home and the other remained in the unit, what would be the situation regarding money?
A RACHEL Lane of Aged Care Gurus says assets of a couple are generally assessed on a 50/50 basis, regardless of legal ownership. The assessment of your assets and income for aged care will be the same as they are currently assessing you for your pension, but can also include your retirement village unit (if neither of you are living there). The amount they will assess for the retirement village unit will depend on your contract. Take advice: this can be complex.
- Do you have a question? Send to Q&A, PO Box 130, Wyong NSW 2259 or email edit@thesenior.com.au A selection of questions will be covered in this column.
