Practice Area

Long-Term Care Planning

Planning ahead for the cost and structure of long-term care so a future nursing home or assisted-living stay does not eat through everything you have built.

Why It Matters

Long-term care is the financial risk most families never see coming. A semi-private nursing-home room in Southwest Florida averages over $9,000 per month, and the average stay lasts more than two years. Pay privately and the math runs hard against you.

Long-term care planning is the proactive side of elder law. Done well in advance — typically five-plus years before care is needed — it lets us reposition assets so they survive a long care stay without forcing the family to spend down to nothing first.

This is different from Medicaid planning when care is already needed. Long-term care planning is about giving you options before the crisis hits.

You may need this if you:

You are 60 or older and have not addressed long-term care in your plan
A parent's or grandparent's care experience worried you
You want to protect a homestead, IRA, or business from a care spend-down
You do not have long-term care insurance and are not planning to buy it
You have heard about Medicaid asset-protection trusts and want to understand them
You have a Florida residence and concerns about Medicaid's homestead rules

Start Your Long-Term Care Planning Intake

Our Services

What We Handle

Asset-Protection Trusts

Irrevocable trusts designed to start the five-year Medicaid lookback while you are still healthy. The right structure depends on your asset mix, your age, and your tolerance for losing direct control.

Spousal Planning

Florida lets the well spouse keep more than people expect, but only with the right titling and trust structure. We design plans that protect both spouses.

Care-Coordination Roadmap

Where would you live if you needed daily care? Who would manage finances? We document the plan so the family is not figuring it out under stress.

Long-Term Care Insurance Review

If you have a policy, we read it. Many policies have inflation riders, daily limits, or elimination periods that surprise families when claims start.

VA Benefits Planning

Wartime-era veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for VA Aid & Attendance, which can offset assisted-living costs. We coordinate the planning so VA and Medicaid eligibility do not conflict.

Crisis-Stage Coordination

When care is already needed, long-term care planning shifts into Medicaid planning. We can pivot quickly if a hospital discharge changes the timeline.

Learn More

Common Questions

Long-Term Care Planning FAQs

What's the difference between long-term care planning and Medicaid planning?

Long-term care planning happens before care is needed, typically five or more years out, and focuses on positioning assets so the five-year lookback has already run by the time you need help. Medicaid planning happens after care has already started, using a different set of tools because the lookback clock hasn't finished.

Do I need long-term care insurance if I do this kind of planning?

Not necessarily, but the two aren't substitutes for each other. Insurance pays a benefit if you qualify and keep up the premiums; planning repositions assets so a future care need doesn't force a full spend-down. Many clients use both.

Can I protect my home if I need long-term care someday?

Florida's homestead exemption already protects your home from Medicaid's asset test while you're alive, in most cases. The planning question is usually what happens to the home after death and how to avoid estate recovery, and that's where trusts, Lady Bird deeds, and other tools come in.

I'm only in my 60s and in good health. Isn't this premature?

It's the ideal time. The five-year lookback means asset-protection trusts need time to season before you'd ever need to rely on them. Waiting until a diagnosis or a fall removes your best options, not just some of them.

Prefer to talk it through first?

Give us a call — we’re happy to answer questions before you start your intake.

(239) 345-4545