Life Care Planning & Long Life

Life Care Planning is a holistic, elder-centered approach to the practice of law that helps families respond to every challenge caused by chronic illness or disability of an elderly loved one. The goal of Life Care Planning is to promote and maintain the good health, safety, well-being, and quality of life of elders and their families. Elders and their families get access to a wider variety of options for care as well as knowledgeable guidance from a team of compassionate advisors who help them make the right choices about every aspect of their loved one's well-being.

HAELO uses an inter-disciplinary team that work to identify present and potential future care needs, locate appropriate care, and ensure high-quality care. This approach relies less on crisis-oriented transactions and more on the development of on-going relationships with families.

Life Care Planning defines, organizes, prioritizes, and mobilizes every aspect of an elder's care. In addition to traditional asset-focused elder law services such as estate planning, asset preservation, and public benefits qualification, Life Care Planning includes provisions for care coordination, family education, health care and financial decision-making, care advocacy, crisis intervention, support and other services. Life Care Planning is designed to achieve three primary objectives:

1. Make sure the elder gets appropriate care, whether at home or in a residential facility, to maintain the quality of life that he or she desires.
2. Locate public and private sources to help pay for long-term care while resolving issues created by the high cost of care.
3. Offer peace of mind that results when the right choices are made to ensure loved ones are safe and getting the right care while preserving family resources.

HAELO uses the term "Elder Care Journey" to describe the aging process to our clients and their loved ones. This term is a condensesed way of describing a model called the Elder Care Continuum, which is at the heart of our process to help families understand the natural progression of aging and its impact on a loved one's health, mobility, housing, and financial resources. Your initial meeting will focus on your loved one's place on each line of the Elder Care Continuum. Gaps in care can then be identified and solutions discussed for closing those gaps. When your customized Life Care Plan is developed, it defines, organizes, prioritizes, and mobilizes every aspect of your loved one's care, to allow him or her to maintain the quality of life that he or she deserve and the peace of mind you desire.

Habiger & Associates Elder Law Office (HAELO) provides legal services to elderly or disabled persons in Southern Illinois. The founder of the firm, Richard Habiger, is an elder law attorney with more than 30 years experience. We are an Elder Law and Life Care Planning Law Firm that provides legal and care coordination assistance, including: Medicaid planning; asset protection; estate protection; Medicaid applications; Medicaid appeals; VA pension benefits planning and applications for veterans and their surviving spouses; planning for those with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other forms of memory loss, and those who have suffered a stoke; Hospice planning; and special needs planning, including special needs trusts and supplemental needs trusts.

HAELO is located in Carbondale Illinois, and serves clients in twenty-seven Southern Illinois counties south of Interstate 70 highway. Southern Illinois Counties: Jackson County, Williamson County, Union County, Franklin County, Perry County, Saline County, Jefferson County, Hamilton County, Johnson County,  Randolph County, Wayne County, White County, Washington County, Edwards County, Monroe County, Wabash County, Richland County, Clay County, Marion County, Clinton County, Bond County, Fayette County, Effingham County, Jasper County, Crawford County, Massac County, Pulaski County, Alexander County, Pope County, Hardin County, Gallatin County, and Lawrence County.
Southern Illinois Cities & Towns: Carbondale, Murphysboro, Carterville, Herrin, Marion, Anna, Vienna, Metropolis, Harrisburg, West Frankfort, DuQuoin, Benton, Chester, Pinckneyville, Mt. Vernon, McLeansboro, Carmi, Fairfield, Nashville, Waterloo, Centralia, Salem, Albion, Mt. Carmel, Flora, Olney, Lawrenceville, Newton, Robinson, Jonesboro, Eldorado, Shawneetown, Ridgway, Sparta, Golconda, Johnston City, Marissa, Coulterville, Carlyle, Ullin, Tamms, Elizabethtown, Galatia, Wayne City, Cobden, Lake of Egypt, Goreville, Brookport, Olive Branch, Cave-in-Rock, Carrier Mills, Energy, Cambria, Zeigler, Royalton, Christopher, Rosiclare, Sesser, Okawville, Woodlawn, Thompsonville, Steeleville, Raleigh, Olmsted, Baldwin, Villa Ridge, Mounds, Tunnel Hill, Red Bud, Trenton, New Baden, Ewing, Dix, Norris City, Creal Spring, Bridge Port, Sumner, Waltonville, Breese, Aviston, Germantown, Whittington, Vandalia, and Ina.