Must the family home be used up when a parent moves into care?

As at: June 2026

The answer first. The family home only becomes an issue when income and assets do not carry the personal contribution and assistance with care is applied for. As long as the owner lives there — or a protected person such as the spouse does — the self-occupied home is protected (Schonvermögen). With a permanent move into the home, that protection usually falls away; yet even then an immediate sale is rarely the only path.

For assistance with care under the Social Code (SGB XII), a reasonable, self-occupied dwelling counts as protected assets (Schonvermögen) — it stays untouched as long as the person in need of care, or a protected relative, lives in it. If, for instance, the spouse continues to live in the house, it generally remains protected. This protection is the reason a move into care does not automatically mean the end of the family home.

If the owner moves permanently into the home and no protected person lives in the house any longer, it usually loses its protected status and becomes a usable asset. But “usable” does not mean “sell at once”: at first it merely counts as a value that may be drawn upon for care. How and at what pace that happens can be shaped — and it is exactly here that it is decided whether a family stays calm or slides into an emergency sale.

The distinction between temporary and permanent absence matters. As long as it is open whether the person in need of care can return, the protection of the self-occupied home generally remains in place. Only when it is settled that a return is no longer an option is the house treated differently under social law. Even then it counts at first only by its value — not as something that would have to be turned into money at once. Whether and from when the protection falls away in an individual case is decided not by a quick-buyer and not by a letter, but by the welfare office after examining your situation.

Were an immediate sale impossible or a hardship, the welfare office can also grant assistance with care as a loan, secured by a land charge in the land register. The house is thus preserved for the time being, ongoing care is covered, and the value is realised later, calmly and in an orderly way. Letting income, too, can help carry the personal contribution. Which form applies in an individual case is clarified by the welfare office and, where needed, a lawyer — what matters is that the time pressure is taken out of the situation.

Besides the loan and letting, there are further calm paths, depending on the family’s situation: a right of residence or usufruct for relatives, a partial sale, or simply a sale at a moment of one’s own choosing, when market and preparation are right. None of these paths is the right one for every family; what matters is that they lie side by side on the table before anything is signed. Which form the welfare office accepts and what tax consequences it has are clarified by those entitled to advise — we make sure no option lapses unconsidered.

A common hope is to gift the house in good time so as to remove it from reach. Caution is needed here: if a gift lies less than ten years back, the donor — and, in their stead, the welfare office — can reclaim what was given when their own income no longer suffices for their upkeep (reclaim due to the donor’s impoverishment). Hasty transfers can therefore do more harm than good. Such an arrangement belongs in the hands of a notary and a tax adviser, planned early and soberly.

Often the person in need of care can no longer decide about the house themselves. Then it matters who represents them effectively. If there is a power of attorney that expressly covers property matters as well, the authorised person can act; for entries in the land register a particular form is required. If there is no such power of attorney, the guardianship court appoints a guardian — and the sale of the occupied family home through a guardianship generally requires the court’s approval. This is not an obstacle but a protection: it ensures that no one disposes lightly of a person’s home. Whoever clarifies early whether the existing representation covers the steps at hand at all spares themselves unnecessary delay later. The legal assessment in the individual case belongs in the hands of a notary or lawyer.

We order the question of the house before it becomes a burden. First we clarify with you whether the house is even an issue in your situation — often it is not. We gather which paths are open and name, for each, who is responsible: the welfare office for the form of help and the protected amount, a notary for any transfer, a lawyer for questions of representation and inheritance law, those entitled to advise for tax consequences. We clarify with you whether a power of attorney or guardianship exists, and we keep out the time pressure that emanates from quick-buyers’ letters. We do not take a decision for you, and we do not replace legal, tax or social-welfare advice; we make the situation manageable so that you can choose calmly. And while the decision matures, the house deserves looking after: what matters at an empty house in the first weeks — or we take it as a home in safekeeping.

This article provides orientation and does not replace legal, tax or social-welfare advice. The protection of the house and the form of any transfer are clarified by the welfare office, a notary and a lawyer.