If I moved, where would I go?

The short answer

There are more choices than staying where you are or moving near a child. Each one costs you something different, whether that is money, the friends around you, or some of your independence.

Wherever you can, try a place before you commit to it. If a community asks for a large entrance fee, have your own lawyer read the contract before you sign.

This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.

What to do

1. List the choices that are real for you, and cross off the ones that are not.
2. Answer the five questions for each choice, on its own sheet of paper.
3. Visit each place more than once, at different times of day.
4. Stay for a while before you buy, if you can.
5. Have your own lawyer read any community contract, and ask what the entrance fee would mean if you ever needed Medicaid.
6. Ask a tax preparer before you sell.

What can wait

Who can help

A senior move manager, found through the National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers directory, can help with the move itself.

A lawyer can read any contract before you sign. Your state or local bar association can refer you, and lsc.gov lists free legal aid.

Your local Area Agency on Aging can tell you what is available near you. Find it at eldercare.acl.gov, or call 1-800-677-1116.

The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’ own pages in October 2026. They change, so check anything you rely on with the office itself.

Hear when the next book is out

Five or six short emails a year at most, and a note when a new book is out. Each one is about something that tends to come up in the first two years. You can unsubscribe whenever you like.