Fox Run in Novi and Glacier Hills in Ann Arbor are two of the entrance-fee communities Metro Detroit families ask about most — here is what a continuing care retirement community in Metro Detroit actually promises, and what Michigan's Continuing Care Community Disclosure Act requires before anyone signs a contract or hands over an entrance fee.
By Detroit Senior Advisor Care Team · September 27, 2026
A continuing care retirement community in Metro Detroit, sometimes called a life plan community, is built around a simple promise: pay an upfront entrance fee plus an ongoing monthly fee, and the campus guarantees a continuum of care — independent living now, assisted living or memory care later, and often a nursing wing after that — without having to move across town when needs change. Fox Run in Novi, an Erickson Senior Living campus in Oakland County, and Glacier Hills in Ann Arbor, now part of Trinity Health Senior Communities in Washtenaw County, are two real examples families in this market bring up constantly when they start comparing this model against a straight rental assisted living community or a smaller Adult Foster Care home. The pitch is real, but so is the price tag: entrance fees at Michigan communities like these commonly run from the low six figures into the several-hundred-thousand-dollar range depending on unit size and refund plan, on top of a monthly service fee that can rival or exceed rent at a comparable rental community.
What trips families up is assuming a single license or regulator covers the whole arrangement. It does not. Michigan has no standalone "continuing care retirement community" license. The independent living portion and the entrance-fee contract are governed by a specific consumer-protection statute, while the health-care wing where a resident eventually receives hands-on assistance operates under an entirely separate Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) license — typically a Home for the Aged (HFA) license under the Public Health Code, or an Adult Foster Care (AFC) license, or in some cases a nursing home license under Part 217 of the Public Health Code. Two regulatory layers, stacked inside the same campus, each with its own paperwork trail worth understanding before you sign anything.
The entrance-fee side of the arrangement is governed by Michigan's Continuing Care Community Disclosure Act, 2014 PA 448 (MCL 554.901 et seq.), which applies to any community that provides continuing care in exchange for an entrance fee, with limited exemptions spelled out in the act itself. LARA is the enforcing agency, with the Michigan Attorney General able to seek injunctive relief when a community is out of compliance. Very few Metro Detroit families comparing Fox Run, Glacier Hills, or any other entrance-fee campus in Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, or Washtenaw County ever ask to see how a specific community is registered under this act — but the disclosure statement it requires is the single most useful document you can put in front of an elder law attorney before signing anything.
The act requires the community to hand a prospective resident the full continuing care agreement, an emergency operating plan, and a LARA-approved disclosure statement covering entrance fees, monthly service fees, refund policy, health and financial qualification standards, and the services actually included versus billed separately. Timing matters: the community must deliver these documents by the earlier of accepting a nonrefundable application fee (capped at $500) or the point where a prospective resident has paid at least 10 percent of the entrance fee toward a unit. If a Metro Detroit community asks for a larger deposit before you have seen the disclosure statement in writing, that is a reason to slow down, not sign.
Michigan law gives every prospective resident at a covered continuing care community a seven-day right of rescission after signing the continuing care agreement, with a full refund of the entrance fee, less any documented damage to the living unit, if they cancel within that window. Michigan families are not required to move in before that seven-day period expires, and the entrance fee is supposed to sit in escrow during that stretch rather than already be spent on campus operations. If a Metro Detroit community pressures a family to move a parent in immediately, before the rescission clock has run, that is worth pushing back on directly.
Beyond the seven-day window, LARA has authority to require a continuing care community to maintain an escrow deposit, a trust account, or an alternative arrangement such as a surety bond or letter of credit if the community's financial condition could jeopardize resident care or point toward insolvency, and escrow is typically only released once the community hits a specified occupancy threshold. Covered communities also have to file audited annual financial statements and unaudited semiannual statements, which a family or their elder law attorney can request to review before committing six figures to an entrance fee. Refund schedules vary widely by contract — some Michigan entrance-fee plans return a declining percentage the longer someone lives there, while higher-fee plans promise a larger guaranteed refund to the estate. Get the exact percentage schedule in writing rather than relying on a sales presentation's summary of it.
Once a resident at a Metro Detroit continuing care community moves from independent living into the campus's assisted living or memory care wing, that portion of the building switches regulatory lanes entirely and now operates under Michigan's Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act or the Public Health Code's Homes for the Aged provisions, inspected by LARA's Bureau of Community and Health Systems the same way any Adult Foster Care home or Home for the Aged in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, or Washtenaw County is inspected. That license, and its inspection history, can be checked directly through LARA's AFC and HFA licensing search — the same tool families use to vet a small AFC home in Grandmont-Rosedale or a large HFA in Troy applies just as directly to the licensed care wing inside an entrance-fee campus like Fox Run or Glacier Hills.
Michigan has no separate memory-care license, so if dementia care is part of why a family is considering a particular continuing care community, ask the licensed wing specifically what dementia training its staff receives and what staffing ratios it discloses, rather than assuming the campus's overall reputation covers that answer. Families who want a neutral second opinion before signing a continuing care agreement can bring the disclosure statement to a free MMAP (Michigan Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program) counselor, the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, The Senior Alliance, or Area Agency on Aging 1-B, depending on which county the community sits in — none of them sell continuing care contracts, and all of them have seen more of these disclosure statements than most families ever will.
Before touring turns into signing, ask for the LARA-approved disclosure statement in writing and confirm the date it was delivered against the act's timing rule, so you know the seven-day rescission clock is running on accurate information rather than a verbal promise. Ask directly whether the entrance fee is currently held in escrow or trust, request the community's most recent audited annual financial statement, and ask how many years in a row monthly fees have increased and by roughly what percentage — a pattern of steep annual increases matters more to a fixed-income retiree than the sticker price on day one.
Have a Michigan elder law attorney review the continuing care agreement itself, not just the marketing disclosure summary, paying particular attention to the refund percentage schedule, what triggers a unit transfer to the licensed care wing, and how the community handles a resident who outlives their assets — many nonprofit Michigan entrance-fee communities, including Trinity Health-affiliated campuses, maintain a benevolent or assistance fund for exactly that situation, but the terms should be confirmed in writing rather than assumed from a brochure. Finally, pull the specific LARA license number for the care wing and check its inspection record directly, the same due diligence any Metro Detroit family would do before choosing a standalone assisted living community or Adult Foster Care home.
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