Marilyn bequeaths her underwear to her acting coach!

Marilyn Monroe bequeathed all of her personal belongings and clothes, including her underwear, to her acting coach Lee Stasberg with the instruction that he distribute them amongst Marilyns family & friends! Unfortunately he didnt do this, instead he kept them in a warehouse, where they stayed until he died.


In 1999 his widow then sold off Marilyn s possessions for a whopping $13.4m!

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What do Care Homes cost in this day and age?

The prospect of paying for care homes can seem a daunting one, especially when it appears that so many factors go into assessing out how much exactly you will be paying. First off the cost of care will depend on whereabouts in the UK you live and also if you will require nursing; this can mean there may be substantial variations in cost.

Average annual UK care home fees 2011/12

Region/Cost per annum	With nursing care	Without nursing care
London	£44,200	£35,308
East Anglia	£38,272	£28,808
Southern Home Counties	£41,912	£30,316
Northern Home Counties	£45,084	£31,564
South West	£40,872	£27,144
West Midlands	£36,400	£24,440
East Midlands	£33,800	£25,376
North West	£33,644	£26,648
Yorkshire & Humber	£33,800	£25,116
North	£30,628	£25,324
Wales	£33,592	£24,544
Scotland	£34,944	£29,432
Northern Ireland	£28,756	£24,232

Source: Laing & Buisson, Care of Elderly People Report 2011/12.

Please be aware the above figures are regional averages. Some care homes may charge considerably more.

It is worth bearing in mind that although at first you may not need nursing this may well change in the future. Therefore looking at this table it is reasonable to assume that you can expect to pay on average more than £27,200 per year for residential care homes and over £37,500 for nursing as well. How much of this total sum you will have to fund yourself is worked out via a financial assessment by your local council (this is explained in further detail in our next article ‘To pay or not to pay – what do you pay for and when are you entitled to funding?’) where they will look at your income and capital and decide how much you have to pay towards the care home fees. The average cost of residential care is £2716 per month and many people in the south of England already pay £5000 or more each month for their care. This is expected to double over the next twenty years. This is obviously a lot of money and if you are one of the millions of people who think this is unfair on those who have worked hard to provide for themselves and their family look out for our article ‘How can I alleviate the cost of care?’ and we will go through some of the ways you can cut costs as much as possible. These figures only cover the basic residential costs and on top of this you may also have to pay for clothing, toiletries, personal items, trips, treats and telephone calls.

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This policy is subject to change at anytime.

For further information on how to alleviate the cost of care, call us now on 01242 255 125 or email us at joan@graysgroup.co.uk. Grays Group also provide other services such as Wills and Estate Planning if you'd like to know more why not visit our website www.graysgroup.co.uk.