If he’s in good health now, why even go there? Unless his house taxes and insurance are eating him alive, or rental on an apartment.
My first husband’s health is badly deteriorating, refuses to sell his home (nice home, paid for, taxes about $400 a month, but in a democrat town whose crime rate has jumped from very low to dangerously high in the last 20 years). He wants to keep the house in case any of our kids needs a place to stay. (They don’t. Except for one, they all have their own homes). Right now, Medicare is paying for most of his hospital and short nursing home stays, but he’s not safe living alone, and our unmarried son is staying with him. The kids are trying to get him to sell it, and move to assisted living, but realistically, even with a government pension and savings, he knows that would soon take all his money, and he’d like to leave the kids something. Kind of a no win situation, depending on how long he lives.
Don’t make your kids go through this. My mom lived four hours away. After multiple times falling and breaking stuff, I was spending almost 200 days a year up there taking care of her. She had great insurance and a decent income. But she didn’t want to move.
Finally she broke her shoulder. I have to go up to the hospital. They discharge her. I am going to have to stay three more weeks. This time my wife went instead.
In three weeks we have her moved into a wonderful assisted living apartment. She could afford it, and it was ten minutes from Our house.
I wasted almost three years of the most productive of my life because she was stubborn.
If you don’t want to be a burden...then don’t. Spend your money. You ain’t taking it with you. And your kids don’t want to bathe you and wipe your ass.