Life Care Planning
Create your roadmap to achieving your life care desires.
Do you want to age in place in your home? Do you have the supports you need to be safe at home? What if your health changes? Can you afford help in the home in addition to the upkeep of your home? If you choose to move to a senior facility, can you afford it?
We are here to help you in life's journey to answer these questions. We use a model called the Elder Care Continuum to help families understand the natural progression of a long-term illness and its impact on a loved one's health, mobility, housing, financial resources, and family members.
Source: lcplfa.org
Our approach is to help our clients determine where they are on the continuum and plan for any progression on the continuum. Our emphasis will be on your goals and objectives, combined with our process of education for each step in the continuum.
What is a Life Care Plan?
A Life Care Plan helps seniors, individuals with disabilities, and families address legal, financial, and health care problems. To develop this plan, our approach is to combine Holistic Estate Planning and Asset Protection Planning with creative care planning services offered by a professional Elder Care Coordinator. Here’s how a Life Care Plan works and what it contains:
Our Elder Care Coordinator and Attorney will assess the following:
The individual’s specialized needs
The type of peace of mind that the individual is seeking
The individual's home in order to verify a safe environment, or their current living arrangement if not living in their home
Current cash flow and how to pay for services which will maximize individual's capabilities for their independence
The current legal documents in place in conjunction with:
The individual's desires for appropriate provisions
Choices of financial and health decision makers
Guidance for the financial and health care decision makers
Examination of asset protection, if desired by the individual
Coordination with the client and their family to implement the plan in order to find, receive, and pay for long term care while also managing risks for which the individual might be exposed
Examination of medicare benefits and insurance benefits with team members who are experienced in these areas
One year of monitoring to verify that the plan is functioning for the individual
Option to continue with an annual maintenance plan
Benefits of a Life Care Plan
Peace of mind for our client and their family
Roadmap to assist and guide the caregiver
Management of life risks
Allows the family to focus on their loved one without the anxiety and concern that their loved one is not safe
Discovery of how to pay for care
Duration of a Plan
Usually a Life Care Plan through the Law Offices of Stephen Sutera, P.C. covers an initial 12-month period. The relationship may be renewed each year for a reasonable fee. If changes need to be made, a phone call to the Elder Care Coordinator is the simple first step to make adjustments, respond to a crisis, or secure additional support.
How Can I Begin My Life Care Plan?
You will be supported by our team consisting of an Elder Care Coordinator, Attorney, Financial Analyst, and Social Coach, together with you and your choice of family members or key individuals in your life.
Step 1: Set an Appointment
Contact us to learn more and set up a time for your initial meeting.
Step 2: Complete the Client Data Form
Once an appointment is established, a data form will be sent to you. The completion of the data form provides the necessary information to begin our discussion of your life care plan. The more information you provide with the data form, the more productive the meeting will be. We require the data form to be sent to our office prior to the meeting in order for our team to review your information ahead of time.
Step 3: Attend Your Initial Life Care Plan Consultation
This meeting will typically last 1-2 hours. The payment for the Life Care Planning reflects the complexity of the total plan. In most cases, the life care plan is paid from the individual’s resources. There are situations when other family members also contribute to the plan in order to assess that their loved one is on the correct path in their journey.
The fee for the life care plan is determined during the initial Life Care Plan consultation. The initial meeting consultation fee, depending on the time together, will range anywhere from $350 to $700. This meeting is with our elder care coordinator and the attorney, which allows our team to gather family facts and then present options plans for your family's journey. If you retain our team to create your Life Care Plan, the consultation fee is applied to the cost of development of the plan. In some instances, our clients prefer to retain us to conduct assistance in life's journey on an hourly basis in order to assist in various parts of the life care plan. The choice is yours. We can help.