Questions to Ask Before Signing an Assisted Living Agreement
The goal is not a long list. It is a short set of specific, written questions whose answers you can hold the community to. Ask by email so you have the reply in writing.
Cost
- What is the base monthly fee for this specific apartment, and what does it include?
- What is the complete à-la-carte price list for care services and add-ons?
- Is there a second-person fee?
- What one-time charges apply at move-in, and which are refundable?
Rate changes
- What have your fee increases been for each of the last three years?
- Is there any stated cap on the annual increase?
- In what other situations can fees change during the year?
Care
- How is the care level assessed, who decides it, and how often is it reviewed?
- How much notice do we get before a care-level fee increase starts?
- At what point would the resident's needs exceed what you can provide?
End of the agreement
- How much notice must we give to move out?
- On what grounds and with how much notice can you discharge a resident?
- On move-out or death, how are the final month and deposit handled?
The documents themselves
- Can I have the residency agreement, fee schedule, and any addenda to review before signing?
- The written offer and the agreement differ on [X] — which one applies?
If a document raised the question, cite it: the page and the exact wording. That is what makes a question hard to answer vaguely. CareCheck generates this kind of question automatically from your uploaded documents.
Have the actual documents?
CareCheck reads the residency agreement, fee schedule, care assessment, and any written offer as one set — pulling out every fee, linking each to the page it came from, and flagging where the documents disagree.
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