Consider Separate Living Quarters in a Retirement Community

If your parents are planning a move to an assisted living or other retirement community as a couple -- and especially if they have gotten to the point where they have different medical needs -- you might want to talk with them about moving into separate studios, or a two-bedroom suite, rather than continuing to share a bedroom. While this may seem like an awkard topic to broach with parents who've shared a bedroom since before you can remember, senior move manager Jennifer Prell says the arrangement is more common than you might think.

Living units in retirement communities aren't the same as houses -- theyre often used for little more than sleep, while social activities and meals take place in shared communal areas where your parents can still be together. And as parents age, Prell points outs, their sleep needs often diverge. Separate quarters can be a real blessing if one or both parents has begun to get up frequently in the night, snores loudly, needs to sleep upright, or has a medical condition that's disruptive or makes privacy preferable.