Nursing-home costs leave seniors pondering divorce

Jerry Clarke ispondering divorcing his wife of 52 years todeal with a monthlyincrease of $700 to pay for his wife's care in a nursing home in Fredericton.

"There are no options,"saidthe 75-year-oldOromocto, N.B.,man, who is trying to get by on his military pension.

"You pay it," he saidabout the extra nursing-home cost. "What happens to you doesn't seem to matter."

Clarke saidhepays more than $2,700 amonth to the Pine Grove Nursing Home for the care of his wife. He saidthat'san increase of nearly$700 over what he paid last winter, and he doesn't have enough left over to cover his own living expenses and maintain his marital home.

So he's starting to think the only way out is divorce, because then his pension wouldn't be factored intoher nursing-home fees, and they would be based on her individual incomeand not the couple's.

"My wife's mental faculties are better than mine," he said."And I'm sure it would be hurtful and very upsetting to her. But it's [divorce]something that, again, is a last resort."

Kenneth Campbell, a retired teacher inPlaster Rock, N.B.,saidhe was granted a divorce in January, after struggling to pay the nursing-home costs for wifeJudithwhile also supporting himself at home.

"There was no contesting. There was no children involved," he said.

"My wife was concerned about the whole thing, but it happened. We met with a lawyer. We signed on the dotted line. It was OK'd by a judge."

Campbell saidhe still visits his wife every day, but isno longer obligated to pay any portion of her nursing-home fees andno longer on the hook for her medicine.

He saidit was the only way he could manage.

"Now my pension isn't touched. All of hers goes to her. And the government subsidizes what is needed," saidCampbell.

The provincial government, however, saidthe cost of keeping a spouse in a nursing homeshouldn't drive a couple to divorce.

"No couple needs to legally separate to maintain the cost of the spouse living at home," said anemailto CBC from the office of SheilaLagac,manager of media relations in the Executive Council Office.

Where a client faces serious financial hardship, due to nursing-home contributions, heor she can apply fortemporary relief, the provincesaid.

Issue raised before

Retired New Brunswickers with spouses in nursing homes have raised this issue before.

In 2003, ElizabethMartin,RachelBourgeoisand Bonnie Hayward said they couldn't afford the costs of keeping their husbands in care.

No couple needs to legally separate to maintain the cost of the spouse living at home.- Sheila Lagace, executive council office

On the steps of the legislature, Martin declared she was prepared to file for divorce because she feared the provincewould take her assets.

In an interview this week, Martin said her husband died in 2003 and Bourgeois's husband has also died.

Bonnie Hayward told CBC news this week she couldn't bring herself to split from her husband, even just on paper.

In 2006. the Shawn Graham Liberal government removed seniors' homes, assets and life savings from the calculation of nursing-home fees.

But a couple's collective net income remained part of the equation.

In 2009, Judy MacKenzie announced her planto separate from her husband of 45 years because she said she couldn't afford the $700a month required as her contribution for his care in the Mount St. Joseph Nursing home in Miramichi.

CBC News was unable to reach her family for an update.

Couple's net income considered

According to the Department of Social Development, the amount of standard family contributions isbased on a client's net income when the person is single, widowed, separated or divorced.

But they're based on a couple's net income when the person is married or in a common-law relationship.

The provincial governmentdefines hardship for the spouse who remains in the marital home as the inability to pay for adequate food, monthly mortgage or rent, sufficient home heat, and prescribed medication and health care.

Clients in this position can request a temporary client contribution adjustment.

There's a lot of myths, and misconceptions and worry.- Deborah Doherty, Public Legal Education and Information Service

It's unclear how many people have successfully argued for this relief or how long they were granted it.

The Public Legal Education and Information Service of New Brunswick (PLEIS)saidit hopes to issue revised booklets that will help seniors navigate the income policy changes coming later this year.

PLEISsaid itdoesn't have enough information from Social Development to make those updates.

"There's a lot of myths, and misconceptions and worry," saidspokeswoman Deborah Doherty.

"And information is empowering."

Doherty saidshe's concerned about seniors making decisions based on misinformation and that could put themselves at risk.