Traditional elder law firms focus on saving the elder's money to pass on to the next generation. Life Care Planning Law Firms focus on using the elder's money for the elder's benefit with the goal of maximizing quality of life and independence.
What is Life Care Planning? Life Care Planning is a holistic, elder-centered approach to the practice of law that helps families respond to every challenge caused by chronic illness or disability of an elderly loved one. The goal of Life Care Planning is to promote and maintain the good health, safety, well-being, and quality of life of elders and their families. Elders and their families get access to a wider variety of options for care as well as knowledgeable guidance from a team of compassionate advisors who help them make the right choices about every aspect of their loved one's well-being.
Life Care Planning Law Firms rely on an inter-disciplinary team that works to identify present and potential future care needs, locate appropriate care, and ensure high-quality care. This approach relies less on crisis-oriented transactions and more on the development of on-going relationships with families.
The heart of the elder-centered law practice, a Life Care Plan defines, organizes, prioritizes, and mobilizes every aspect of an elder's care. In addition to traditional asset-focused elder law services such as estate planning, asset preservation, and public benefits qualification, a Life Care Plan typically includes provisions for care coordination, family education, health care and financial decision-making, care advocacy, crisis intervention, support and other services. Every Life Care Plan is designed to achieve three primary objectives:
Make sure the elder gets appropriate care, whether at home or in a residential facility, to maintain the quality of life that he or she desires.
Locate public and private sources to help pay for long-term care while resolving issues created by the high cost of care.
Offer peace of mind that results when the right choices are made to ensure loved ones are safe and getting the right care while preserving family resources.
Life Care Planning Law Firms use a model called the Elder Care Continuum to help families understand the natural progression of aging and its impact on a loved one's health, mobility, housing, and financial resources. Your initial meeting with a Life Care Planning Law Firm may focus on your loved one's place on each line of the Elder Care Continuum. Gaps in care can then be identified and solutions discussed for closing those gaps. When your customized Life Care Plan is developed, it defines, organizes, prioritizes, and mobilizes every aspect of your loved one's care, to allow him or her to maintain the quality of life that he or she desires.
