General information from a recorded webinar, not legal advice for your situation.

What is independent living?

Quick answer · 0:32 · From Life Care Planning: Protecting, Finding, and Paying for Care · Recorded Nov 20, 2025

Short answer

Independent living, or senior living, is an apartment for people 55 or older. Some include housekeeping, laundry or meals, but residents live on their own and do not need help with daily care activities.

Key points

  • Age requirement: 55 or older.
  • Services like meals may be included.
  • No hands-on care is provided.

Lauren FinkFounding attorney, Everbright Legacy Law

Read this part of the transcript

Care facility options range from, on this listing, it goes from lowest level of care to highest level of care. So there’s sort of a continuum again on the left-hand side where it’s a path that can be taken as to as your functional ability decreases, then the need for care increases. So with care facility options, there are independent living or senior living facilities where it’s essentially an apartment, but the apartment has an age requirement where you have to be 55 years or older in order to reside at that place of living. And there are options that can be included in that that cover housekeeping, laundry, or meals, or those different types of things.

Created automatically from the recording. Full transcript on the webinar page.

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