It's called an unintentional lapse - and it should never happen.  

Unfortunately, it sometimes does. Someone pays years of premiums for LTC coverage and then forgets to pay a premium and the policy lapses. The coverage is gone, and securing new coverage might be too expensive even if the client is insurable.  

A dirty little secret of long-term care insurance carriers is that they priced older products assuming a portion of the policyholders would lapse. In actuality fewer policyholders lapsed than expected, leading to higher claims experience and in-force premium increases. The long-term care product pricing experts have learned and current products have extremely low lapse assumptions.

How can an advisor make sure their client doesn't lapse?  Make sure they completed the third party notification form.

This very important provision allows the insured to designate another individual to receive notice of premium nonpayment. The idea is to designate someone who is  close enough to the insured that if they receive a notice of nonpayment for the insured, they will know to take action. 

The unintentional lapse provision is specifically included in long term care applications in order to protect people who may develop a cognitive impairment. The idea is to make certain a notice of non payment reaches someone in the insured's circle of influence, without the notice being in danger of dismissal by someone in the home who may be impaired.

I  recommend an adult child , a sibling or trusted friend  to fill this role.  Even with the third party notification, it might be smart to create the clients LTC premium payment as a recurring annual calendar event.  It's a good excuse to contact the client and verify the plan is in place. A policy review could also be conducted if necessary.  

Even if you aren't the writing agent of the policy, make sure the client has designated a third party. Don't be the advisor whose client lapsed their LTC coverage just when they needed it!