Long-Term Care Planning
Long-Term Care Planning in New Tazewell
A useful long-term care plan connects two questions: what care would you want, and how should decisions and expenses be handled if you cannot manage them yourself? Dale Law Group, PLLC offers long-term care planning to help organize those choices, authority documents, and questions about possible TennCare options. No document or planning strategy guarantees program eligibility or payment.
Start with the care decision—not a single funding assumption
Write down the care arrangements you would prefer, what matters most in choosing among them, and who should be involved in the discussion. Then compare those preferences with the insurance, income, assets, and other resources you want considered. This is a planning conversation, not a prediction of future care costs or a promise that a particular resource will cover them.
Keep the comparison conditional. TennCare’s CHOICES program provides long-term services and supports, and both medical and financial requirements apply. Whether it may be relevant to you depends on your circumstances and the program’s requirements; planning cannot establish eligibility in advance.
A one-page care and resources worksheet
Before a planning meeting, prepare a simple worksheet with four columns: preferred care and priorities; people you want consulted; insurance and other resources to review; and open questions. List policy names and contact details if available, but do not guess at coverage. Note where current documents are kept and who has copies.
This worksheet makes gaps visible—for example, a care preference that has not been discussed with family, an insurance question that needs confirmation, or a document whose scope is unclear. Bring the documents themselves when possible, rather than relying only on a summary.
Match each decision to the right authority
A healthcare directive addresses healthcare preferences and names an agent and alternate. Tennessee’s form includes instructions about signing and sharing copies; the right choices and handling of the form depend on your situation. A durable financial power of attorney, by contrast, authorizes another person to act financially within the document’s scope, duration, and limits. Do not assume it grants every power or makes the person a healthcare decision-maker.
Authority can also arise in different roles, including a trustee or a court-appointed guardian or conservator. Those roles are not interchangeable. Review who can make which decisions, what information they need, and whether your existing documents still reflect your wishes.
Build a coordinated plan and identify next steps
Long-term care planning can include reviewing care preferences, decision-making documents, existing insurance and resources, and questions about possible public benefits. The goal is to connect those pieces without treating a healthcare directive as a funding plan or assuming a financial agent has healthcare authority.
Bring your worksheet, current powers of attorney and healthcare directive, and available insurance or resource information. Ask: Who can act if I cannot? What decisions are within that person’s authority? What should be confirmed with an insurer or program? What would prompt us to revisit this plan? Dale Law Group, PLLC has its office in Murfreesboro and serves Tennessee; New Tazewell is in Claiborne County.
Questions to bring to the discussion
Does long-term care planning guarantee that TennCare will pay for care?
No. CHOICES has both medical and financial requirements. Planning can help you organize questions and information, but it cannot guarantee eligibility, coverage, or funding.
Is a healthcare directive the same as a financial power of attorney?
No. A healthcare directive addresses healthcare preferences and an agent, while a financial power of attorney authorizes financial action within its stated scope and limits. Review each document’s purpose and authority separately.
Discuss your next step with Dale Law Group
Begin with a brief, non-confidential overview. The firm will discuss your needs and appointment arrangements.
General information, not advice for a particular situation. Sending an inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship.