"Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant" - Maya Angelou

“You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” Tennessee Williams

The Palm Beach County Treasure Coast Elder Care Planning Council, Inc is a non-profit alliance of individuals and companies dedicated to helping the public deal with senior long term care and resource planning issues. The council incorporates solutions-based planning to identify specific challenges faced by elders and their loved ones and to then directly address those issues utilizing a team approach.

Council members represent a consortium of highly skilled, committed and compassionate professions operating as a clearinghouse for senior-related information, knowledge and helping resources, both public and private.

We serve a five county area: Palm Beach; Martin; St Lucie; Okeechobee and Indian River.

Most seniors fail to adequately plan for what can potentially be the most devastating time of their lives. Far too often every manner of thing goes horribly wrong even though much of that stress and suffering could have been easily mitigated or prevented all together.

Fortunately there are dozens of workable strategies and vast resources available both for seniors and their families. The purpose of the council is to help both groups develop a clear and simple plan to implement personalized solutions. The central goal is to assist them in obtaining the long term care or support they need, while, wherever possible, helping them retain, protect and even add to the assets and resources necessary for accomplishing that. Such plans can be positively life transforming for both seniors and their loved ones.

- Personalized evaluation and needs assessment.

- Solutions-focused planning culminating in a phase one plan.

- Issue-specific information.

- When desired, referral to outside resources, whether community-based, professional or governmental.

Medical and Long term care issues

- How to maintain the senior’s lifestyle in advancing years.
- Addressing high medical and prescription drug costs.
- Making best use of long term and other forms of insurance coverage.
- Help with finding the right health insurance plan and providers.
- Assistance in finding additional funds or assistance to help pay for eldercare.
- Using senior care providers and advisors to save conflict, time and money.
- How to find the right care givers and independent living facilities.
- Help with finding appropriate health care professionals and services.
- Information support and assistance to uncompensated caregivers.

Veterans Benefits (help determining eligibility and related matters.)

- Pension and Survivor Pension benefits.
- Disability compensation.
- Healthcare benefits.
- Dependency and indemnity compensation.
- Help exploring funding options for long-term care, both for veterans and their spouses.
- Help and support for uncompensated long term care givers.
- Burial benefits.
- State veterans homes.
- State specific benefits.
- Death benefits
- Veteran’s healthcare which can include free prescriptions, hearing aids and-eye glasses.
- Home renovation grants.
- Other miscellaneous case-specific benefits.
- Referral, when requested, to free and/or paid resources to help facilitate such matters as benefit applications, appeals and related processes.

Financial Issues

- Financial and overall life resource planning.
- Client-centered investment strategies.
- Estate and asset transfer issues and assistance.
- Help with appraisal of the estate including real estate assets and contents.
- Assistance in monetizing or otherwise disposing of tangible assets such as jewelry art work, valuables, furniture, clothing, etc.
- Relevant and potentially helpful government and non-government programs, services and benefits.
- Medicaid planning.
- Assessing possible veterans benefits
- Tax planning

Legal Issues

- Asset preservation protection strategies, including revocable and irrevocable trusts and other proactive and client specific measures.
- Strategizing to receive needed lifetime care while retaining and protecting assets wherever both desired and feasible.
- Estate planning and asset transfer issues.
- General elder law services.
- Medicare and Medicaid Planning
- Strategies and knowledge needed to legally and optimally coordinate various forms of government benefits.
- Legal assistance to Veterans and their families.
- Wills, power of attorney and advance directives.
- Dispute mediation.

Help Finding or Identifying

- In-home care.
- Medical care management.
- Help with downsizing, de-cluttering and moving.
- Assistance with complicated later-in-life real estate transactions in general.
- Guidance on the best practices and techniques for successfully living and thriving in place.
- Independent living communities.
- Assisted living facilities.
- Short term rehabilitative facilities.
- Long term care facilities.
- Palliative and hospice care.

All services and benefits are highly case specific and determining actual eligibility is often highly technical, complicated and even counter-intuitive. None of the above benefits are guaranteed, actual or implied. In the end all choices, options and decisions are entirely yours to make and are always based on the specific terms and rules of the resource or professional you’re working with. We highly recommend that you obtain the guidance and support of specialized professionals and organizations in making any such decisions.

This above information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. All information should be independently verified. This content is for information and illustrative purposes only. We do not provide tax, legal, financial planning, wealth management, medical, psychological or other related professional services. The enclosed information is in no way intended as healthcare, tax, accounting, legal or investment advice. Every situation and transaction is highly individualized and specific circumstances can vary widely, as can laws from community to community, state to state, or nation to nation. If you perceive any conflict between legal, financial, psychological or medical information here you should definitely rely on the advice from your legal, financial, psychological or health care professional, as they are likely to know more about your specific history and other individual considerations. You are strongly urged to seek independent professional advice on all such matters. Be sure to consult your own tax advisor before taking any action that may involve tax consequences. Any legal matter should be reviewed by an attorney who specializes in the respective area you are exploring and should be licensed to practice law in your state. Any healthcare decisions should be made in close consultation with appropriately trained and licensed medical personnel.

The PBTC Council is not an accredited agent, VSO attorney or entity recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and does not directly help in the filing of a claim. We answer questions related to specific benefits and can direct you to an individual or organization capable of filing a claim or helping you with your related needs. Many of these services are free of charge.

Nothing herein should be construed as a solicitation, offer, or recommendation. Much of the information presented has been obtained and conveyed from third parties such as Multiple Listing Service, public records and other sources. All information is subject to errors, omissions or changes without notice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or representation regarding this information. Use of any content herein is full acknowledgment and acceptance of this disclaimer.

Senior Veterans Service Alliance