You know the brochure. A clubhouse, a walking trail, a dining room with real tablecloths, and one sentence that does all the work: care for life, right here, so your kids never have to worry. Then there's the entrance fee, and for a lot of families the plan to pay it is the house your parent spent forty years paying off.
I spent eight years on the buying side of real estate, a lot of it with families in the middle of exactly this move. I watched families make huge decisions in a hurry because somebody else's deadline said so. I don't do that work anymore. These days I'm the person a family calls before anybody signs anything, and the question I hear about these communities is almost always the same one: if Mom signs and changes her mind, or something happens to her before she moves in, what happens to the money?
North Carolina has a real answer to that question, and it changed recently. The General Assembly repealed the old law that governed these communities and replaced it with a brand new one, the Continuing Care Retirement Communities Act. It took effect December 1, 2025, and it applies to contracts issued, renewed, or amended on or after that date. If your parent is touring a life plan community this winter, this is the law their contract lives under.
You don't need to read all 80 sections. You need about six things out of it, and you need them before the deposit check, not after. That's what this is.
What North Carolina Changed, In Plain English
The new law is Session Law 2025-58, which started as House Bill 357. Governor Josh Stein signed it on July 3, 2025. It created Article 64A of Chapter 58 of the North Carolina General Statutes and repealed the old Article 64 in full.
Here's what a continuing care retirement community is, according to the statute: housing in an independent living unit, plus related services, plus access when needed to higher levels of health care, meaning assisted living, nursing care, or both, under a contract that runs for life or for longer than one year. The care doesn't have to be on the same campus. It can come through a contract with someone else.
The law says out loud why it exists. Its statement of legislative intent notes that residents often spend a significant portion of their savings to sign with a provider, and that "devastating consequences" can follow if a provider becomes insolvent. So the state requires every provider to be licensed and monitored by the North Carolina Department of Insurance, and that applies to for-profit and nonprofit providers alike.
A few rules matter right away for your family:
- Nobody gets to use the words without the license. Under G.S. 58-64A-20, advertising something "similar to continuing care" with terms like "life care," "life plan," "continuing care," or "guaranteed care for life" counts as being in the business, and that requires approval from the Commissioner of Insurance.
- The disclosure statement has to arrive first. Under G.S. 58-64A-155, the provider has to hand your parent a current disclosure statement before they sign a binding reservation agreement or a contract, or before any money changes hands beyond a nonbinding reservation deposit. "Current" means dated within one year and 160 days and the most recent one on file with the state. Your parent signs an acknowledgment showing the date they got it.
- The state publishes it. Under G.S. 58-64A-160, providers file a revised disclosure statement within 150 days after each fiscal year ends, and the Department of Insurance posts it on its website within five business days of recording it.
- Your parent can't sign the protections away. G.S. 58-64A-365 says no act, agreement, or statement of a resident, or of someone buying continuing care for a resident, is a valid waiver of the protections in the Article.
What It Means for Your Family
The 30 days belong to your parent, and the clock starts late
This is the big one. Under G.S. 58-64A-175, every continuing care contract in North Carolina has to give the person signing it the right to rescind within 30 days. The 30 days run from the later of two dates: the day the contract is signed, or the day your parent receives a disclosure statement that meets the law's requirements.
That "later of" matters. If the disclosure statement shows up after the signature, the clock hasn't started yet.
And the contract can't require your parent to move in before those 30 days are up. You're not racing a moving truck while you think it over.
The same 30 days apply to a binding reservation agreement under G.S. 58-64A-170. That's the document many families sign first, to hold a unit or a spot on a list.
What comes back if they cancel
If your parent rescinds inside the window, the contract is canceled before a unit is ready, or the contract is canceled automatically (more on that below), the law says they get back all the money they paid, minus a short list of things:
- Periodic fees for any time they actually lived in the unit.
- Nonstandard costs the provider incurred at your parent's request, if those are described in the contract.
- Nonrefundable fees, if the contract spells them out.
- A service charge, if the contract spells it out, capped at $3,000 or 2 percent of the entrance fee, whichever is greater.
Do that math before you sign, not after. On a large entrance fee, 2 percent is a real number. You want to know exactly which of those four deductions the contract uses, because each one is only allowed if it's written down.
And the provider can't charge the service charge at all if the contract ends because the provider failed to meet its own obligations or never got its permanent license.
If something happens before move-in
Here's the part that worries families most, and the law handles it directly. A continuing care contract is automatically canceled if the resident dies before occupying a unit, or if illness, injury, or incapacity would keep them from occupying it under the contract's terms. The refund rules above apply.
For a parent in their eighties who's signing for a unit that opens next spring, that's not a small protection. It's the difference between the money coming back to the family and a fight with a provider.
Where the money sits in the meantime
When the law requires entrance fees and deposits to be escrowed, G.S. 58-64A-100 says they go into a segregated escrow account, never mixed with the provider's own funds, with an escrow agent the Commissioner approved in advance. When a refund is due for death, cancellation, or nonacceptance, G.S. 58-64A-135 says the escrow agent pays it within 10 business days of getting written notice.
One catch to know about: if your parent cancels voluntarily after construction has started but before the unit is first occupied, the refund can be held until someone else reserves a similar unit and pays in. That delay can't exceed one year unless the Commissioner extends it for good cause.
The house sale is usually the hidden deadline
Here's where this lands on my side of the table. For most families, the entrance fee comes out of the sale of the parent's house. So the community's timeline quietly becomes the house's timeline.
That's how a family ends up selling in a hurry, to whoever's fastest, because a reservation agreement said a date. Your 30 days on the contract don't help much if the house is already under contract to a cash buyer at a discount. Before your parent signs anything, ask the community in writing when the entrance fee is actually due, and whether that date can move if the house takes longer to sell. Then plan the house around the answer, not the other way around.
Six Steps Before Anyone Signs
1. Pull the disclosure statement from the state, not just the sales office
The Department of Insurance posts recorded disclosure statements. Read the one on the state's site and compare its date to the copy you were handed. If they don't match, ask why.
2. Read these sections first
The disclosure statement is long. Under G.S. 58-64A-150, it has to include a lot, but these are the pages worth your evening:
- Fee history. A table showing how often periodic fees and entrance fees went up over the last five years, the average percent, and the average dollar amount. This tells you what your parent's monthly fee is likely to do at 85 and 90.
- Refunds owed. For refundable entrance fee contracts, the number and dollar amount of refunds currently due, including how many are 30 or more days past due. A pile of overdue refunds is a question to ask out loud.
- Occupancy. The 12-month average occupancy rate, by unit type, for the past five years.
- Debt covenants. Whether the provider is out of compliance with any covenant in its debt agreements, and what it's doing about it.
- If money runs short. The circumstances under which a resident can stay if they hit financial difficulty.
- Moves. When the provider can move a resident to another unit, and what health and financial condition is required to be accepted and to stay.
3. Check what the contract says about Medicaid and insurance
Under G.S. 58-64A-175(b), the contract has to state any requirement that the resident keep long-term care insurance or apply for Medicaid or other public assistance. If that requirement is in there, it changes how you plan the rest of your parent's money. Bring it to an elder law attorney.
4. Find the refund terms for after move-in
The 30-day rules cover the front end. What happens years later, when your parent dies or moves to the community's nursing floor, is set by the contract itself. The law requires the contract to state the terms for refunding any part of the entrance fee on death or cancellation. Find that paragraph and read it twice. "Refundable" can mean very different things from one community to the next.
5. Ask about the reserve and the residents' meetings
Under G.S. 58-64A-245, a provider has to keep an operating reserve. It starts at 50 percent of a year's forecasted operating costs, and it can step down as occupancy rises: 25 percent at 90 percent occupancy or above, and as low as 12.5 percent for a provider at 93 percent or above with no long-term debt or a debt service coverage ratio above 2.00. If the Commissioner raises a provider's reserve or orders it put on deposit, the provider has to tell residents in writing within 10 business days. That's a letter you'd want to see.
Residents also have a legal right to organize and form a residents' council under G.S. 58-64A-355. Under G.S. 58-64A-360, the board has to hold in-person meetings with residents twice a year, with at least one independent board member there in person and at least seven days' notice. Ask a current resident how those meetings go. You'll learn more in ten minutes than from the brochure.
6. Read the notice above the signature line
Every North Carolina continuing care contract has to carry a boxed or boldfaced notice right above where your parent signs. It says the Department of Insurance's authority is not a guarantee of performance or an endorsement of the contract, and that prospective residents are strongly encouraged to get financial and legal advice. The state put that there on purpose. Take it at its word.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my parent cancel a continuing care contract in North Carolina?
Yes. Under G.S. 58-64A-175, the person who signs a continuing care contract can rescind it within 30 days of the later of signing the contract or receiving a disclosure statement that meets the law's requirements, and the resident can't be required to move in before those 30 days end.
Does my parent get the entrance fee back if they cancel within 30 days?
Mostly. The refund is all money paid, less periodic fees for any time they actually lived in the unit, nonstandard costs they requested, nonrefundable fees written into the contract, and a service charge written into the contract that can't exceed $3,000 or 2 percent of the entrance fee, whichever is greater.
What happens if my parent dies before moving into the community?
The contract is automatically canceled under G.S. 58-64A-175, and the same refund rules apply. The contract is also automatically canceled if illness, injury, or incapacity would keep your parent from occupying the unit under the contract's terms.
Who regulates continuing care retirement communities in North Carolina?
The North Carolina Department of Insurance. Under the Continuing Care Retirement Communities Act, effective December 1, 2025, providers need approval from the Commissioner of Insurance before offering continuing care, and the Department posts each provider's annual revised disclosure statement on its website.
Does the new law apply to a contract my parent signed before December 2025?
The act applies to contracts issued, renewed, or amended on or after December 1, 2025. A contract signed earlier and never renewed or amended was written under the prior law, so have an elder law attorney read that contract against its own terms.
About Ryan Riggins
Ryan Riggins is a senior transition advisor and former house flipper. After 8 years buying and flipping homes, many of them from families in transition, he walked away from the cash-buyer side to help families avoid the $50K mistakes he used to profit from. Based in Greensboro, NC. NC Real Estate License #361546, eXp Commercial. Founder of Riggins Strategic Solutions and the Hammock365 app.
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Want a step-by-step guide? The Senior Transition Blueprint is free, all 20 modules and 69 tools: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/the-blueprint
Not sure where your family stands? The free Family Readiness Score takes five minutes and shows the gaps across the home, the money, the legal documents, care, and family alignment: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/tools/family-readiness-score
Need a personalized plan? The Senior Transition Roadmap is free, by application. It adds calls with Ryan and 90 days of email support: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/the-roadmap
Selling a parent's home? Ryan finds and vets the right local agent for your situation and stays in your corner on the whole sale, at no added cost to your family: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/in-your-corner
Coordinate the family in one place. Hammock365 keeps daily check-ins, medications, and documents where the whole family can see them: hammock365.com
Sources
All sources checked November 4, 2026. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. A continuing care contract is a large, long legal document; have an elder law attorney and a financial advisor read your parent's before they sign.
- North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 58, Article 64A, Continuing Care Retirement Communities Act, read on the North Carolina General Assembly site: G.S. 58-64A-2 (legislative intent, Department of Insurance regulation, for-profit and nonprofit providers), 58-64A-5(12) (definition of continuing care, life or longer than one year), 58-64A-20 (approval required, including advertising with "life care," "life plan," "continuing care," or "guaranteed care for life"), 58-64A-100 and 58-64A-135 (segregated escrow, refunds within 10 business days, up to one year delay after construction begins), 58-64A-150 (disclosure statement contents, including five-year fee tables, refunds due and past due, occupancy, covenant compliance), 58-64A-155 (delivery before signing or payment, current within one year plus 160 days, signed acknowledgment), 58-64A-160 (annual revision within 150 days, posted by the Department within five business days), 58-64A-170 and 58-64A-175 (30-day rescission, automatic cancellation on death or incapacity before occupancy, refund deductions, service charge cap of the greater of $3,000 or 2 percent, required contract terms and notice), 58-64A-245 (operating reserve of 50 percent, 25 percent at 90 percent occupancy, 12.5 percent at 93 percent with no long-term debt or debt service coverage above 2.00, resident notice within 10 business days), 58-64A-355 and 58-64A-360 (right to organize, in-person semiannual meetings, seven days' notice), 58-64A-365 (no waiver of protections). https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_58/Article_64A.html
- North Carolina General Assembly, Session Law 2025-58 (House Bill 357), ratified June 26, 2025, approved by Governor Josh Stein July 3, 2025; Section 4: effective December 1, 2025, applying to contracts issued, renewed, or amended on or after that date. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2025-2026/SL2025-58.html
- North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 58, Article 64 (former continuing care law), every section marked repealed by Session Laws 2025-58, effective December 1, 2025. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_58/Article_64.html
- North Carolina Department of Insurance, Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC). https://www.ncdoi.gov/insurance-industry/continuing-care-retirement-communities-ccrc
