Planning for long term care is one of those tasks that most families put off until a crisis forces their hand. A parent falls. A diagnosis changes everything overnight. Suddenly, families are trying to sort out legal paperwork, find the right care setting, and manage a loved one’s wellbeing, all at the same time, all while under enormous stress.
It does not have to happen this way. With the right long term care planning in place well before a crisis hits, families can protect their assets, honor their loved one’s wishes, and avoid the scramble that so often accompanies a health emergency.
That is exactly the gap that a new Colorado Springs partnership is designed to close. In Good Hands Senior Care Support and Hammond Law Group have joined forces to launch Colorado’s only integrated Life Care Planning program, combining elder law and estate planning with hands-on senior care placement and ongoing support, under one coordinated plan.
What Is Long Term Care Planning?
Long term care planning is the process of preparing, legally, financially, and logistically, for the possibility that you or a loved one will eventually need extended help with daily living. This might include assistance with bathing, dressing, or managing medications, or it could mean a move to an assisted living community, memory care facility, or skilled nursing home.
The need for this kind of planning is more common than most people realize. According to federal data from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, someone turning 65 has a 70% chance of needing some type of long term care in their future. Despite those odds, many families are not prepared. A national poll from the University of Michigan found that fewer than half of adults age 50 and older believe it is likely they will need long term care, and 45% say the need feels too far off to plan for it.
That gap between likelihood and preparation can be costly. Roughly 62% of adults age 50 and older mistakenly believe Medicare will pay for a permanent nursing home stay, when in reality, Medicare’s coverage for that kind of care is limited and short term. Without an elder law and care plan in place, families are often forced to make major financial and medical decisions under pressure, with far fewer options than they would have had if they planned ahead.
Why Long Term Care Planning Involves More Than Legal Documents
When people hear “long term care planning,” they often think first of legal paperwork: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives. These documents are essential. They determine who can make decisions on your behalf, how your assets are protected, and what happens if you become unable to manage your own affairs.
But estate planning only tells part of the story. Families also need to answer practical questions that no legal document can solve on its own, such as:
- What type of care setting is the right fit: home care, assisted living, memory care, or a skilled nursing facility?
- How do you evaluate and choose a quality senior living community?
- Who manages the transition once a decision is made, and who helps the family adjust afterward?
- How do you make sure a loved one’s care plan is actually being followed once they are settled?
- What ongoing oversight is needed to catch problems early, especially if family members live out of state?
These are the kinds of questions that fall outside the scope of even the best estate planning attorney’s expertise, and they are exactly where a dedicated senior care advocate becomes essential. This is also why so many Colorado Springs families end up managing two separate relationships: one with an elder law attorney, and another with a senior placement specialist, often without either side coordinating with the other.
[IMAGE: Adult child helping an elderly parent pack or tour a senior living community. Alt text: “family touring a senior living community together”]
The Real Cost of Long Term Care
Cost is often the piece that catches families most off guard. Long term care is expensive, and the price tag has been climbing. A 2022 study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that seniors who require long term care will need an average of $138,000 worth of long term support services, and families end up paying for roughly 37% of those costs out of pocket, with about 14% of seniors paying more than $100,000 out of pocket.
The financial strain does not stop there. Nearly half of all single people who enter a nursing home spend their entire savings within one year, according to long term care statistics compiled by JRC Insurance Group. And with only about 7.5 million Americans carrying long term care insurance, according to RetirementLiving.com’s research, most families are relying on personal savings, Medicaid, or unpaid family caregiving to fill the gap.
This is where early, coordinated planning makes the biggest difference. Strategies like Medicaid planning, trust structuring, and asset protection can preserve a family’s financial security, but only if they are put in place before a crisis, not during one. This is a core part of what elder law attorneys mean when they talk about proactive long term care planning, as opposed to reactive crisis management after a health event has already occurred.
Why Coordinated Planning Matters
Historically, families have had to piece together their own team: an estate planning attorney for the legal side, and separately, a placement agency or care manager for the logistics of finding and settling into a care community. These two pieces rarely talk to each other, which means families are often repeating their story, managing multiple relationships, and trying to keep the legal plan and the care plan in sync on their own.
A coordinated model changes that. When legal planning and care planning are handled by partners who work together from the start, families get a single, unified strategy instead of two disconnected plans. Decisions about care needs can directly inform the legal and financial strategy, and legal safeguards can be built with a family’s actual, real world care situation in mind.
Introducing the Partnership: A Comprehensive Life Care Planning Program
In Good Hands Senior Care Support and Hammond Law Group have built exactly this kind of coordinated model, and it is the first of its kind in Colorado.
For years, In Good Hands has helped Colorado Springs families find the right senior living placement and then supported them through the transition and beyond, offering guidance on everything from evaluating communities to settling in and staying on top of ongoing care needs. Hammond Law Group has focused on the legal side of aging well, handling estate planning, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, Medicaid planning, and elder law for families across the Colorado Springs area.
Now, the two organizations are combining their expertise into a single, membership based Life Care Planning program. Here is how the responsibilities break down:
| Area of Support | Handled By | What It Covers |
| Estate planning and legal documents | Hammond Law Group | Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance directives |
| Medicaid and asset protection planning | Hammond Law Group | Long term care legal strategy, Medicaid eligibility planning |
| Senior living placement | In Good Hands | Evaluating and choosing assisted living, memory care, or nursing facilities |
| Transition support | In Good Hands | Helping families and seniors settle into a new care setting |
| Ongoing care oversight | In Good Hands | Monitoring care quality and advocating for the senior over time |
The result is a genuinely comprehensive long term care plan. Families no longer need to coordinate between separate legal and care teams themselves; instead, they have one integrated program built around their specific situation, with legal and care experts working from the same playbook.
What This Means for Colorado Families
For families navigating aging and long term care decisions, this partnership offers several concrete advantages:
- One coordinated plan instead of two disconnected ones. Legal documents and care strategy are designed together, not separately.
- Fewer gaps and less duplication. Families are not left explaining their situation twice or reconciling conflicting advice.
- Support at every stage. From the earliest legal planning conversations through placement, move in, and ongoing care oversight, families have a consistent team walking alongside them.
- Local expertise. Both organizations are based in Colorado Springs and understand the specific senior living landscape, legal requirements, and resources available in the region.
- Peace of mind for out of town family members. With ongoing care oversight built into the program, families who cannot be physically present still have someone local watching out for their loved one.
Because the program is membership based, families can access this level of coordinated support on an ongoing basis, rather than needing to re-engage separate professionals every time a new need arises.
A First of Its Kind Partnership in Colorado
What sets this collaboration apart is the depth of the integration. Plenty of estate planning firms offer referrals to care management services, and plenty of placement agencies can point families toward an attorney. But a true partnership, where legal planning and senior care support are built as one continuous program from day one, is something Colorado families have not had access to before. That makes this Life Care Planning program the only offering of its kind in the state.
For a family facing the early stages of a loved one’s care needs, or for anyone who wants to plan proactively before a crisis hits, this kind of integrated support can mean the difference between a stressful, reactive scramble and a calm, well prepared transition.
Start Planning Today
Long term care planning is not something to put off until it becomes urgent. Whether you are just beginning to think about the future or you are already navigating a loved one’s changing needs, having a coordinated legal and care plan in place gives your family clarity, protection, and peace of mind.
If you are ready to explore what comprehensive long term care planning looks like for your family, reach out to In Good Hands Senior Care Support or Hammond Law Group today to learn more about the new Life Care Planning program and take the next step toward a plan built around your family’s real needs.
