Rather than focusing solely on restructuring assets (an “asset-focused” elder law practice), our elder-centered law practice works to customize a legal plan that serves as a road map to help the client meet the inevitable challenges of caring for an aging family member. The approach may continue for the duration of the client’s life. Our elder-centered law practice team consists of the attorney, the geriatric care manager, a qualified mental health professional, daily money managers, and support staff.
The families of the clients we serve want to take good care of their parents; they just don’t know how to do it. Here’s what they DO know: the health care system into which they and their loved ones have now been thrust is fragmented, confusing, inefficient, and may not consistently serve their needs and preferences. If you think about it, families in this situation have three options:
1. DO NOTHING AND HOPE NOTHING BAD HAPPENS
2. DO NOTHING AND THEN DO SOMETHING WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS
3. DO SOMETHING BUT WHAT?
Older adults and their families turn to us for help. That’s what we’re here for! It is the purpose of what we do and why we do it.
What is a Life Care Plan?
The Life Care Plan places special emphasis on issues surrounding long life. The Life Care Plan connects your concerns about, as well as your objectives for, long-term care as you go through the stages of your life.
Families use this innovation in the practice of Elder Law called Life Care Planning as a method to manage information and track goals. A Life Care Plan incorporates a care management protocol that is used as a guide to coordination of necessary services and resources.
For your Life Care Plan to be successful, all of us must have an understanding of your diagnoses, medical treatment, estimated costs of treatment and services, factors affecting care outcomes, psychosocial implications, and ongoing health care and long-term care needs. We must be knowledgeable about community resources and eligibility criteria for these resources. Furthermore, we must be able to identify and develop alternatives for care consistent with patient/family needs and goals.
A Life Care Plan represents the integration of these issues into a plan for life to meet individual needs and goals.
Solutions At The Speed of Life: The Importance of Life Care Planning
Ours is a Practice With Purpose — the pursuit of excellence in Elder Law & Life Care Planning. The first of its kind in North Carolina, the Elder Law & Life Care Planning Center is the first and only member of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, an organization dedicated to supporting law firms that practice this innovation in Elder Law.
At the Center, we not only address traditional elder law areas such as estate planning, asset preservation, public benefits qualification, veterans benefits and planning for incapacity, but we also assist clients with key aspects of long term care planning. Important to this approach is the ever-critical coordination of care that makes the Life Care Plan work optimally for quality of life.
The Elder Law & Life Care Planning Center has three principal planning goals that we help you develop and implement:
We work to ensure our client’s right to quality care. We understand family dynamics.
All planning is done from your perspective, reflecting your personal values and preferences. We will help you answer your questions about your long-term care and health care choices:
Other Questions
A Life Care Plan helps you and your loved ones answer other pressing questions as well:
