Joseph Palmer & Sons Aged Care Assistance

Moving family members into aged care is a difficult and emotional experience. The need to move often arrives with little warning and leads to a complex array of decisions. Once the aged care home has been selected, a raft of confusing financial matters arise including negotiating and funding the accommodation deposit, daily and extra service fees and the Centrelink means tested fees. Then there is the bewildering process of dealing with Centrelink. Acronyms like DAPs and RADs adds to the confusion, and the list goes on. Appropriate structuring can minimise fees and maximise entitlements, whilst inappropriate structuring may result in tens of thousands of dollars in additional costs, year after year. Compounding the stress is the very short time in which to make all these decisions.

WHO WE ARE

At Joseph Palmer & Sons we have a deep knowledge of the aged care system and all its intricacies and have gone through the transition to aged care with our own parents. We are also investment managers dating back to 1872. Our personal journeys, together with our professional experience in financial services, enable us to expertly advise and guide you through the complexities of aged care.

OUR SERVICES

We will demystify aged care to ensure the most appropriate decisions are made and an optimal financial outcome achieved.

Our service and advice includes:

• Negotiating and structuring the accommodation deposit.
• Minimising means tested fees / Maximising entitlements
• Consideration of impacts on pension payments
• Financial modelling with respect to funding the upfront and ongoing costs
• Liaising with Centrelink
• Decisions regarding the family home
• Completion of all paperwork
• Estate planning & investment considerations
• Assistance with sourcing appropriate accommodation

THE PROCESS

• An introductory meeting to understand needs and circumstances, a facility appraisal and an assessment of income and assets.
• Financial modelling of the various options available and respective financial outcomes, including options for retaining the family home if so desired and financially feasible, with a view to minimising fees and maximising benefits.
• We will liaise with the facility on your behalf for fee negotiations and structuring of the contract for the financial outcomes required, and complete all requisite paperwork required by other agencies such as Centrelink.
• We work closely with your accountants and legal advisers.
• Estate planning consideration to ensure careful management, prudent advice and appropriate structures for the eventual transfer of assets to spouse or children.
• Upon return of the accommodation deposit, we can provide investment advice and asset management services for the next generation.