Court’s ruling leaves aged care shocked

Aged care groups are reportedly shocked after a Family Court last week ruled it has the power to split the assets of elderly couples who remain married, but are “physically separated” because one of them is living in a nursing home.

The decision, carried down by the Full Bench of the court, upheld a magistrate’s ruling that “most of the elements of a normal marital relationship have ceased to exist” when a wife is admitted to a high-care nursing home while her husband lives at the family home.

The Australian reports the court heard the husband in that case visited his wife up to three times a week, but sided with the woman’s daughter from a previous marriage in ordering he sell the house to pay for a more expensive aged care facility for his spouse.

Council on the Ageing chief executive, Ian Yates, tells The Australian aged care providers were “uncertain” as to what the ruling meant for their clients.

“What is bemusing me is if one partner needs to go into aged care and the other person’s still staying in the home, the home doesn’t come into the calculations of the asset means test,” Mr Yates says.

Some providers state most people still consider themselves to be a couple within their “cognitive capacity”, despite one half needing aged care services.

According to Mr Yates, “urgent clarification” was needed as to whether the ruling was the “correct decision”.

Do you agree with the Family Court’s decision that most of the elements of a “normal” marital relationship cease to exist when one spouse is placed in aged care? Share your thoughts by commenting in the box below.