Yes, it could be beneficial to talk with a lawyer before applying for nursing home or assisted living care, contracting with a continuing care retirement community or purchasing long term care insurance.
Most contracts are complex legal documents with terms that affect a wide range of rights and responsibilities. Even an application can contain terms and representations that limit your rights in the future. For example, care facility contracts often need to be modified to avoid obligating a family member as guarantor and remove barriers to future Medicaid planning. Continuing care retirement community contracts can be confusing and quite different from marketing presentations.
Marketing professionals are quite skilled at highlighting the proposed amenities and may assure you that expensive entry deposit investments are refundable when you leave. However, they rarely explain that refunds can be delayed or foregone if the community develops financial difficulties or your unit isn’t leased to another tenant, and the highly touted amenities likely won’t be a reality if the developer has financial issues.
Similarly, long term care insurance policies are very complex and have various options that may be necessary for some but inappropriate for others. There are also tax and estate planning considerations to be addressed when planning for your long term care.
We’d be happy to meet with you to discuss your long term care needs and insurance and estate planning goals. Please contact us for a consultation.
