1. The HSE review, and the review you can ask for
The contribution is worked out from the applicant’s income and assets when the application is approved. It does not stay still. The HSE says you must report a change within 10 working days: an increase in income, an inheritance, rental income, the sale of an asset, or the death of a spouse or partner. Not reporting a change can affect funding and can lead to a fine.
It works the other way too. As savings are spent on care, the contribution set at the start can become too high. The HSE does not lower it by itself; you ask. You can ask for another financial review 12 months after the last one, and you send current statements from every account with the request. When savings fall: how to ask for a review. If you used our service, the letter is ready in your tracker.
Either way, somebody has to know which accounts, pensions and policies exist. That is the list you made when you applied.
2. The nursing home loan
If the family deferred the part of the contribution that comes from the house, that is the nursing home loan. It is repaid to Revenue, not the HSE, within 18 months of the death (12 months for a death before 5 September 2026), and interest is applied from the date of death if it is late. A spouse or certain relatives still living in the house can apply to defer it further. The person dealing with the estate must also send the HSE a Schedule of Assets, a list of everything the person owned, at least three months before anything is distributed. The loan and the Schedule of Assets after a death.
The Schedule of Assets is, again, the list of banks, policies and property. The same list.
3. Telling everyone
When a person dies, every organisation in their life has to be told: each bank, the credit union, the pension provider, the life company, the Department of Social Protection, Revenue, the solicitor who holds the deeds, the health insurer. Families usually do this from memory, in the worst fortnight of their lives, and find the last account a year later.
The Fair Deal application is the one time a family has already found all of them. That is why we built the list.
Families who use our application service can keep the names of the organisations they found, in their tracker, under “Your list”. It is suggested from the letters they sent and their checklist answers, so there is nothing to type, and it has a private link of its own that still works after the tracker closes.
- Names of organisations only: never balances, account numbers, statements or documents.
- Kept only if you tick the box, and removed the moment you say so.
- Yours to use for the review, the loan and the Schedule of Assets.
If the family ever has to tell every one of those organisations about a death, LegacySteps, our sister service, writes to each of them from one place and keeps track of the replies. It starts from the list kept on fairdeal.ie, so nobody has to make it twice. Nothing goes to LegacySteps unless the family sends it, and then only the names.
LegacySteps is offered through funeral directors and credit unions in Ireland, and is open to any family. There is no charge to a family coming from fairdeal.ie.
Keep a simple record
Keep the application and everything you sent with it, keep a note of every letter to and from the Nursing Homes Support Office with its date, and keep the list. When the 12 months are up you will know when to ask for a review, and when the loan or the Schedule of Assets comes round, the list is already made.
Questions families ask
What must be reported to the HSE after approval?
A change in income, savings or property, including an inheritance, the sale of an asset, new rental income or the death of a spouse or partner, within 10 working days.
Can the contribution be lowered later?
Yes. You can ask for another financial review 12 months after the last one, for example when savings have fallen. Send current statements with the request. The HSE does not lower it by itself.
What happens to the nursing home loan after a death?
It is repaid to Revenue within 18 months of the death (12 months for a death before 5 September 2026). The person dealing with the estate must also send the HSE a Schedule of Assets before the estate is distributed.
Is the list safe?
It holds the names of organisations only, nothing about money or health, and only because you ticked the box. It is deleted when you remove it, or after five years without being opened. It is never sold or passed to anyone; LegacySteps receives the names only if you press the button that sends them.
Guidance reviewed on 5 November 2026 against the sources below. fairdeal.ie is independent. The HSE decides every application.