Well, we all made it through Thanksgiving with our families. If the adult children went to visit their “mature aged” parents, they probably noticed how they were living in their environment. Had they been cooking? Were clothes piled up because they couldn’t go up and down the stairs? Were there piles of clothes on the chair(s) in the bedroom? Were there healthy foods in the refrigerator?
I am preaching to the choir. Put your “Life Documents” in order. It is not enough to just have a will. It’s assigning a POA (power of attorney for medical and financial) as well as having a living will, health proxy, and end of life recommendations. This would include:
- Financial: 401K, securities and investments. Who are they with? You should have the account numbers as well as the financial planners name and phone number.
- Important paperwork: marriage certificate, military discharge papers, children’s names, address, phone numbers, city/state
- Technology: passwords/user names to all accounts
I just had a conversation with one of my neighbors who is 57 years old and her husband is working in Shanghai teaching. Her in-laws live in Missouri and the mother-in-law is having health challenges. So, the father-in-law is starting to be a care giver, which he doesn’t want to be.
Don’t wait for a crisis to happen be prepared today. In fact, if you have an adult child in college and they get sick and end up in the hospital or infirmary, will you be prepared. For example, if you call the hospital or infirmary, they will not give you any information unless your adult child has legally appointed you as POA for medical treatment.
Here is part 1 of the checklist to get you started. If you can’t gather and assemble this information, we can put together these documents for you. We would put them in a tabbed 3 ring binder and place this information on the cloud as well.
Here are some of the documents that would be included:
- Will, living will/health care proxy, ethical will
- Contingent beneficiary
- Power of Attorney (medical and financial), elder law attorney name, phone, address and e-mail
- Revocable Trust agreement or irrevocable trust agreement
- Charitable trust agreement
- Charitable donation preferences
- HIPPA form
- Death and burial instructions, wishes on type of service, speakers, pallbearers
- Cemetery plot deed, as well as any pre-planning burial agreements
- Preparing for cremation papers
- Funeral home preference and information
- Letter of instruction to executor
- Death certificates of spouse (if applies)
- Preference of retirement community (name and city)
- If failing health, do they wish to be moved closer to their family? (Which family member and city?)