How We Were Able to Help: A Family’s Experience Through Grief and Care Planning

This article focuses on a case I worked on, where a recent death in the family called for careful financial planning and a helping hand at a time when the family needed it most.

What Were the Circumstances?

I was first introduced to the children of a new client after their father had recently passed away. The next client we’d recently begun working with was their mother. The father had been the one who managed the family’s financial affairs over the years, so his death left a real gap in both knowledge and confidence.

The situation was made harder still because the mother had been living with severe MS. Her condition worsened following her husband’s death, with her eventually needing to move into a care home.

Understandably, the family were experiencing significant financial anxiety on top of their grief. Their main concern was having the assurance that they could fund the care home and the ongoing costs of their mother’s care.

How We Helped

Given the sensitivity of the situation, I visited the family multiple times, first at the family home, and later at the care home once their mother had moved in. My focus early on was building a relationship with them. When a family comes to us in circumstances like this, they’re often at their most vulnerable. Yes, they needed financial advice, but more than anything, they needed some steady support from outside the family.

I’d like to think most planners, at any firm, would approach a situation like this the same way. Before anything else, there needs to be empathy and understanding. In my eyes, only once that’s in place is it right to start advising someone in such delicate circumstances on what to do with their money.

Once that relationship and level of comfort had developed, we began assessing the family’s situation in more depth. I recommended they complete a full care needs assessment, which they were happy to do. From there, we were able to work out the cost of ongoing care, both what it looked like at the time and how it might grow in future.

Together, we agreed a plan to sell the family home, since it was now standing empty. The proceeds from the sale were used to purchase a long-term care annuity, with the remainder, alongside some existing investments, ringfenced across different strategies, each serving a different purpose.

Some of the money was ringfenced in cash to cover needs beyond the care home fees themselves. The medium-term funds were invested using a low-risk strategy, with the goal of potentially buying a further long-term annuity further down the line, should care costs increase substantially.

The Outcome

Our planning made a real difference to how the family felt, knowing their mum was going to be properly looked after, and that there was a sustainable, clear plan in place for her financial future.

I’ve been known to apply something with my clients called the “mum test”. I treat clients as if they were my own mother, so I know I’m genuinely doing the best for them and working as hard as I can to get them the outcome they’re looking for.

So much of what we do is shaped by our ethics and our moral compass. I believe that when you have good, morally grounded people at the heart of financial advice, that’s when a real difference can be made.

Colmore Partners is an Appointed Representative of Best Practice IFA Group Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the registration number is 223112.

This article does not constitute tax, legal or financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future. For guidance, seek professional advice.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.