The Elephant in the Room
The property podcast for the thinking person.

Episodes

Episode 422: Multi-Generational Living: Legal, Financial, and Practical Realities

Multi-generational living is no longer a niche arrangement. For many families, it’s becoming a practical response to ageing parents, housing pressure, and the growing strain within residential aged care.

As traditional care pathways become more expensive and harder to navigate, families are increasingly reshaping how and where they live — often bringing parents into the family home or building granny flats as an alternative to retirement villages.

But these arrangements are rarely as simple as they appear.

When families move towards shared living, questions quickly arise around legal ownership, life estate arrangements, pension eligibility, Centrelink gifting rules, and long-term estate outcomes.

In this episode, we look under the hood of multi-generational living to explore what’s really involved, including the legal and financial realities that sit beneath well-intentioned decisions.

Our guest, Adriana Care, Managing Partner at Coutts Legal, works at the coalface of aged care planning, family law, and estate planning. She shares what she’s seeing among the sandwich generation — adult children trying to support ageing parents while managing their own families, finances, and property decisions. From binding financial agreements to retirement village contracts, Adriana explains how family arrangements can unravel when legal structures haven’t been properly considered.

The conversation also examines why many families are choosing to care for elderly parents at home, rather than relying on residential care or retirement living options. As property values rise and pension rules become more complex, families are often forced to make decisions earlier than expected — particularly when there are multiple children, blended families, or informal financial contributions involved.

This episode isn’t about promoting or discouraging multi-generational living. It’s about clarity. If you’re weighing up granny flat arrangements, shared housing, alternatives to retirement villages, or how family law and estate planning intersect with ageing and care, this conversation will help you understand the legal, financial, and practical realities before decisions become difficult to unwind.

Episode Highlights

01:18 — Meet Adriana Care of Coutts Legal
02:08 — Is Aged Care Failing Modern Families?
03:47 — The Legal and Financial Risks Families Miss
05:25 — Why Families Choose Multi-Generational Living
15:31 — Retirement Living vs Staying at Home
20:50 — How Retirement Village Contracts Really Work
25:40 — What to Know Before Making a Family Move
28:10 — Inside Retirement Village Agreements
30:52 — How Family Dynamics Shape Care Decisions
32:21 — Financial Elder Abuse: Legal Warning Signs
35:29 — Binding Financial Agreements Explained
37:46 — Pensions, Gifting, and Centrelink Rules
40:21 — Why Downsizing Isn’t Always the Answer
44:02 — Granny Flat Arrangements: Legal Traps
49:42 — A Real Case That Shows What Can Go Wrong

About the Guest

Adriana Care is the Managing Partner at Coutts Legal, where she specialises in aged care and elder law. She works closely with families navigating some of the most complex and emotionally charged decisions around ageing, care, and family living arrangements.

Adriana advises clients on the legal and financial realities of home care, residential aged care, granny flats, and multi-generational living, with particular expertise in Centrelink rules, pension eligibility, and intergenerational asset arrangements. Working at the coalface, she sees first-hand how well-intentioned plans can unravel without clear structures, proper advice, and early conversations — especially for the sandwich generation balancing parents, children, and property decisions at the same time.


Connect with Adriana

Resources:

Chris Bates