The first time I checked the organ donor check box on my driver's license, it was with the creepy suspicion that someone far luckier than me needed my liver. I checked the box and, to my surprise, was not immediately run over by a bread truck. I've renewed my license many times since and lived to see the E-check line again.
Take it from me: Planning for death will not cause you to die.
Think of this as the ultimate honey-do list:
• Don't leave your affairs in chaos.
• Play to your heirs' strengths. It's one thing to split your possessions equally among your kids, but it's another to give the black sheep joint access to your bank accounts or appoint the child who argues about everything co-executor with his siblings. Choose an executor you trust to honor your wishes, preferably one who has the temperament for document-wrangling.
• Plan your own sendoff. The more instructions you can leave about your funeral, the less your family has to guess what you would have wanted.
• Don't leave it to your family to sort out what's trash and treasure. Keep an inventory of valuable art, furniture, collectibles and jewelry. If a piece has sentimental value, share the story that goes with it so that others can enjoy its place in family history.
• Earmark prize possessions.
• Plan for your pets.
• Keep track of your financial accounts. Regularly update a list of your bank and investment accounts, life insurance policies and other holdings.
• Create an illness/death folder. Anything your family should know in the event you fall seriously ill or die should be noted in the file. That includes contact info for your attorney; your will or trust documents; your living will and power of attorney; health, long-term-care and life insurance policies; instructions for your funeral; and instructions for locating computer and account passwords and safe deposit box keys.
• Talk about your plans. If you're clear with your family, you can reduce the chance of confusion, disagreement or hurt feelings later. Harmony is not a bad legacy.
Full Article and Source:
The Ultimate Exit Strategy: A When-I-Die Checklist
See Also:
BoomersBewareOfGuardianshipAbuse
4 comments:
I have recently been hearing a new defination for success is dying even -- not in debt and also not leaving a big inheritance but even. I like the idea.
This is not the "ultimate exit strategy." This is a lie. Judges ignore your orders, unless you leave everthing to them or their gang of guardians, conservators, and trustees.
But it doesn't it make us all feel better to believe this "ultimate strategy" works?
This is not about making us feel better. Making us pay to create these documents makes who feel better?
Give away all your property to someone you trust. If you don't trust anybody that much, hide all your property. If you don't trust anybody enough to given them your property now, then why trust them enought to inherit after you die? If you don't trust someone, don't leave them anything. If it is hidden, in 50 years when it is found,all the people you don't trust will likely be dead too. The governtment is supposed to keep it for your relatives, the relatives who are not alive today, and they can be trusted. If the government does not keep this promise either, and takes it all, you will know the government did not take it while your need it, while your still alive, through guardianship.
Good info.
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