LIFE CARE PLANNING
What is a Life Care Plan?A Life Care Plan is a holistic approach to long-term planning for our elderly, disabled or chronically-ill client. A Life Care Plan includes the services of an attorney and an elder care coordinator who work together to enhance the quality of life of their clients.
Your Life Care Plan includes legal services to protect assets, coupled with a health care assessment, comprehensive care coordination and advocacy services. We will customize your Life Care Plan to meet your needs and desires and will provide you with the road map to follow to achieve your long-term care and asset protection goals. Even when changes occur, we stay with you every step of the way to help you shift to another road as it becomes necessary.
A Life Care Plan helps you and your loved ones answer your questions about your long-term care choices:
- What level of care do I need?
- What long-term care services are available to me?
- How will I pay for and get good care?
- What services do I need to continue to safely live in my own home?
- How will my financial and health care decisions be made for me if I cannot make them for myself?
- Who can I rely on to make sure that decisions to be made are the right ones?
- How do I make sure my spouse is cared for?
- How do I assure my financial security as I get older?
- What public benefits am I entitled to, and what do I have to do to qualify for them?
- Should I rely on Medicaid or other government benefits to help pay for my care? How do I apply for benefits?
- What kinds of insurance do I need? Should I buy long-term care insurance? Should I join a Medicare HMO?
- How and when should I distribute my assets? Can I save taxes and avoid probate?
- Do I have to spend all of my money on my care, whether in my home or in a residential care facility such as a nursing home? How can I protect my assets to take care of my spouse, to ensure I get good care, or to leave to my children?
- How do I provide for family members with special needs?
Life Care Planning Goals
The goals of a Life Care Plan are:
- Promote the health and safety of our client.
- Meet our client's immediate and long-term health care needs.
- Counsel our client in decision making related to their long-term needs.
- Identify and access public and private resources to assist with our client's care needs.
- Provide emotional support and advocacy to the client and the client's caregivers.
- Assist with asset management and protection.
- Protect our client's right to safe and effective health care.
- Respect and promote our client's right to dignity and self-determination.
