Life Planning Strategies for Supporting the Needs of Older Adults and Their Families December 18, 2024

“Life planning” involves creating plans for your assets, as well as outlining preferences for how you wish to be supported in the event that your decisional capability changes. Life planning tools include wills, trusts, health care proxies, living wills, transfer on death deeds and other will-substitutes. These tools promote self-determination and ensure that the wishes of older adults are affirmed even after their death. While life planning includes putting plans in place for distribution of assets after death, it can also help older adults during their lifetime to help preserve housing and economic security, as well as put mechanisms in place that can avoid unnecessary guardianship and conservatorship. This training will discuss how life planning services can benefit older adults and how to take a person-centered approach to traditional estate planning and preservation of generational wealth.