The real continuing care retirement community cost isn’t the entrance fee. It’s the share of that fee you never get back, plus the monthly charges you’ll pay for as long as you live there. In Florida, Chapter 651 sets the formula for what comes back and when, so the advertised entrance fee can’t answer the cost question on its own.
What does a continuing care retirement community cost in Florida?
A Florida CCRC price has two parts: an entrance fee and a monthly fee. The entrance fee deserves the closer look, because the share of it you can still get back shrinks the longer you live there.
This page doesn’t publish a dollar range, and that’s deliberate. Most of what turns up in a search repeats a national marketing estimate rather than a Florida contract term, and no estimate can tell you what your own agreement charges, retains, or refunds.
The monthly fee can change after a resident signs, but not without warning. Florida law states, “The contract must provide for advance notice to the resident, of at least 60 days, before any change in fees or charges or the scope of care or services is effective”. That language appears in F.S. 651.055(1)(j).
The statute carves out changes required by state or federal assistance programs. For everything else, read the notice clause next to the current fee schedule before you compare one community to another.
Four questions get you most of the way through the financial side of a contract:
| Contract item | What to examine |
|---|---|
| Entrance fee | The amount paid and the portion refundable later |
| Monthly fee | Included services and charges billed separately |
| Fee changes | The notice clause and effective date |
| Departure | Cancellation requirements and refund timing |
Our Pasco County long-term care cost guide walks through self-funding, traditional insurance, hybrid products, and Medicaid. A CCRC contract is a fifth way to pay for the same care, and it’s the one that guide leaves out.
The planners who handle long-term care planning can set these obligations next to the rest of a household’s retirement spending. What matters in that comparison is cash flow, contract language, and how much of the entrance fee the community keeps.
What is a continuing care retirement community?
Florida calls them continuing care facilities, and the industry calls them life plan communities. The required contract notice states, “This facility and all other continuing care facilities (also known as life plan communities) in the State of Florida are regulated by the Office of Insurance Regulation pursuant to chapter 651, Florida Statutes.” That statement comes from F.S. 651.055(3).
Treat the arrangement as a long-term contract first and housing second. You can’t separate the two cleanly, because the refund provisions, the monthly charges, the care terms, and the departure rules all move together.
Zephyrhills, Dade City, and San Antonio carry one of Pasco County’s heaviest concentrations of retirees, while Wesley Chapel proper skews a good deal younger. That’s why these questions come up earlier in East Pasco than they do closer to the Bruce B. Downs corridor.
Plenty of them start while a family is already looking at financial planning in Zephyrhills. Wherever the community sits, the contract still needs a household-level read.
How much of a CCRC entrance fee do you get back?
Florida sets a pro rata ceiling for certain occupied-unit refunds. F.S. 651.055(1)(h)1. states, “the refund shall be calculated on a pro rata basis with the facility retaining up to 2 percent per month of occupancy by the resident and up to a 5 percent processing fee.”
That formula covers a resident who doesn’t receive a transferable membership or ownership right in the facility. Those are the statute’s ceilings, not its requirements, so a contract is free to retain less.
Once the refund amount is settled, the money has a deadline. The same subparagraph states, “For contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2016, refunds must be made within 90 days after the contract is terminated and the unit is vacated.”
Contracts signed before that date run on the separate 120-day timing in the same subparagraph. A different clock applies if the provider has stopped selling. F.S. 651.055(1)(h)5. states, “If the provider has discontinued marketing continuing care contracts, any refund due a resident must be paid within 200 days after the contract is terminated and the unit is vacated.”
Here’s what that retention rate really is: a clock. At the statute’s maximum of 2 percent per month, the retained share reaches 100 percent after 50 months of occupancy, which is a little over four years.
That’s arithmetic on the statute’s own cap, not a prediction about any particular agreement. A contract that retains less runs the clock slower.
It’s also the number that makes entrance fees comparable. A community advertising a large refundable share can burn through it faster than a smaller one, depending on which monthly rate each contract writes in.
What if you cancel before you move in?
Florida provides several protections before occupancy begins. F.S. 651.055(2) states, “A resident has the right to rescind a continuing care contract and receive a full refund of any funds paid, without penalty or forfeiture, within 7 days after executing the contract.”
One narrow exception applies to a reservation-contract forfeiture under F.S. 651.023(4), in the case the same subsection describes. Otherwise the week is yours, and the statute says so twice over: “A resident may not be required to move into the facility designated in the contract before the expiration of the 7-day period.”
Your money doesn’t sit with the provider during that week either. F.S. 651.055(2) says, “During the 7-day period, the resident’s funds must be held in an escrow account, or the provider may hold the check until the 7-day period expires”.
A later cancellation before occupancy follows another formula. F.S. 651.055(1)(h)6. states, “the entire amount paid toward the entrance fee shall be refunded, less a processing fee of up to 5 percent of the entire entrance fee; however, the processing fee may not exceed the amount paid by the prospective resident. Such refund must be paid within 60 days after the resident gives notice of intention to cancel.”
That rule doesn’t reach a resident who has occupied a unit and received a transferable membership or ownership right in the facility. So check two things in the contract before relying on it: whether occupancy has started, and what kind of interest the fee actually buys.
Death or incapacity before occupancy triggers another protection. F.S. 651.055(5) states, “if a prospective resident dies before occupying the facility or, through illness, injury, or incapacity, is precluded from becoming a resident under the terms of the continuing care contract, the contract is automatically canceled, and the prospective resident or his or her legal representative shall receive a full refund of all moneys paid to the facility”.
The facility can still deduct costs it incurred at the prospective resident’s request, if they’re set out in a signed addendum. Households comparing exit provisions across products often read our guide to getting out of a Florida annuity alongside this one, since the free-look logic is similar and the deadlines are not.
What happens to the entrance fee if a resident dies?
The contract may allow the provider to retain the entrance fee. Florida doesn’t make that result automatic for every resident.
F.S. 651.055(1)(i) says a contract may provide that “upon the death of a resident, the entrance fee of such resident is considered earned and becomes the property of the provider.”
The word “may” is doing the work in that sentence. Florida permits the clause, it doesn’t impose it, so the signed contract is the only place the answer lives.
That single clause can decide whether an estate has anything left in it. Estate planning coordination is where those terms get lined up with beneficiary designations and the cash the family will actually need. The planner reads the agreement, and an attorney handles the legal interpretation.
What if you run out of money in a Florida CCRC?
Florida delays discharge when a resident can’t keep paying, under conditions the statute spells out. It doesn’t promise anyone a permanent home without payment.
F.S. 651.061(2) states, “It shall not be deemed just cause if the resident is unable to pay monthly maintenance fees until the entire unearned entrance fee, plus, when applicable, any Medicare benefits under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act and/or third-party insurance benefits received, is earned by the facility.”
The statute establishes an additional floor after those resources are exhausted. It states, “the facility may not require the resident to leave before 90 days from the date of failure to pay, during which time the resident shall continue to pay the facility a reduced fee based on her or his current income.”
Read those two together and you get a staged protection, not a permanent one. The unearned entrance fee has to be used up first, and then there’s a 90-day window at a reduced fee. Neither one forgives the monthly charges for life.
The broader rule sits in F.S. 651.061(1): “No contract for care shall permit dismissal or discharge of the resident from the facility providing care before the expiration of the contract, without just cause for such a removal.”
All of which is an argument for testing the monthly obligation before anybody signs. That’s the work in retirement income planning: running the fee against income you can count on for twenty years, not five.
Households already weighing care eligibility can also read our guide to the Florida Medicaid community spouse rules. Medicaid planning and a CCRC contract review are separate decisions, and they don’t substitute for each other.
What if the community runs out of money?
Residents receive preferred-claim status, but secured creditors remain ahead of them. F.S. 651.071(1) states, “all continuing care and continuing care at-home contracts executed by a provider are deemed preferred claims against all assets owned by the provider; however, such claims are subordinate to any secured claim.”
A preferred claim is not a guaranteed claim. Say the pair out loud: in a failure, residents stand ahead of the general creditors and behind the lenders who financed the buildings.
For purposes of s. 631.271, the same subsection deems those contracts Class 2 claims. A place in line still isn’t a promise of full recovery, because what’s left to recover depends on the provider’s assets and how much of them is already pledged.
How to check a Florida CCRC’s finances before you sign
Florida gives prospective residents a direct inspection right. The required statement in F.S. 651.055(3) says, “The law gives you or your legal representative the right to inspect our most recent financial statement and inspection report before signing the contract.”
The same statement adds, “You may wish to consult an attorney or a financial advisor before entering into such a contract.”
Ask for the current financial statement and inspection report, then hold them against the statewide medians the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation publishes every year.
The 2025 CCRC Annual Industry Report puts median days cash on hand at 333.616 and the median debt service coverage ratio at 3.088. Entire facility occupancy is 90 percent, and independent living occupancy is 95.13 percent.
The 2024 report put median days cash on hand at 277.95 and entire facility occupancy at 86.34 percent.
Compare the two and the direction is clear: the industry’s median cash cushion grew by roughly two months between the 2024 and 2025 reports, and median occupancy climbed with it. That’s the industry, though, not a community. A median tells you nothing about the one you’re touring.
Which is exactly why the inspection right matters. Ask where the provider’s own numbers land against those medians, and ask what explains any gap.
The 2025 report says, “76 CCRC facilities filed the 2025 annual statements.” Six of them were non-operational as of December 31, 2025. Seventeen examinations were completed and seventeen examination reports were issued in 2025, all within the stated timeframes.
The 2024 report carries one line worth reading. It says, “One CCRC did not file an annual statement due to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” Nothing in either report says what happened to that provider afterward, so we won’t guess.
FLOIR’s CCRC team takes questions at [email protected] or 850-413-3153. To report an alleged violation of Chapter 651, the agency directs you to the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, at 1-877-693-5236, which is in-state only, or 850-413-3089.
Frequently asked questions
What determines the real cost of a Florida CCRC?
The real cost combines monthly charges with the entrance-fee portion never refunded. The contract and Florida’s statutory refund formula determine that retained share.
How quickly can an occupied-unit entrance fee decline?
F.S. 651.055(1)(h)1. lets a facility retain “up to 2 percent per month of occupancy by the resident and up to a 5 percent processing fee”. At that maximum rate the retained share hits 100 percent after 50 months. A contract may retain less.
Is a CCRC entrance fee guaranteed during bankruptcy?
No. F.S. 651.071(1) makes the contract a preferred claim, but it is “subordinate to any secured claim.” Residents remain behind secured lenders.
Does every Florida CCRC keep the entrance fee after death?
No. F.S. 651.055(1)(i) says the contract may treat the fee as earned at death. That result depends on the signed agreement rather than an automatic rule.
Can a resident be discharged after missing monthly payments?
Yes, but statutory protections apply first. F.S. 651.061 requires just cause and provides a 90-day floor under the conditions stated in that section.
The statute itself suggests you get help before you sign, and that’s the whole reason this page exists. Wesley Chapel Wealth Pro matches Pasco County households with independent licensed planners, and the match is free to you. Call (813) 680-3195 and we’ll connect you with a planner who’ll read the contract with you.