Get It Together

Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To

Melanie Cullen, Shae Irving

• Publisher: NOLO
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781413325676
• Edition: 8
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Finance

AUDIENCE:

• Aging Americans who want to leave things in good order for their families
  
• Middle-aged people who want to help their parents get organizedREASONS TO BUY THIS NEW EDITION
  
• More than 108 million Americans are age 50 or older, and this group will grow by about 19 million in the next decade. (AARP, 2014.) The audience for this book is huge, and it continues to grow.
  
• Getting organized is a hot topic. This book is the most comprehensive, best organized workbook for both the preparer and the survivors.
  
• Downloadable forms make the process easy.
  
• This book is a consistent strong seller and great companion to just about any estate planning title.
  
• The book provides basic estate planning information and references to the best websites to turn for more help. Resources will be fully updated for the new edition.

CHAPTER

1

Instructions

In Your Planner

Keeping Your Documents Up to Date

Amy doesn’t know, for the most part, where to find all this paperwork if something happens to me. She doesn’t know where all the account numbers are, or the passwords necessary to log into those accounts electronically. And I find it painful to think of her, stressed and in pain, hunting for some paper she needs quickly when she isn’t even sure what it looks like or if she’s even hunting in the right pile.

—JEFF D. OPDYKE, “EVERYTHING I KNOW YOU SHOULD KNOW TOO,” THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2002

The first days following your death will be especially difficult for your family and friends. Your loved ones will be absorbing the loss, whether unexpected or long anticipated. They will be experiencing a range of feelings—sadness, hope, fear, denial, anger, guilt. And they will be faced with a long list of decisions and tasks, many of which they must handle immediately.

The Instructions section of your planner is a master guide for your loved ones and other survivors. It describes what needs to be done and when, and it points your survivors to the information in your planner that will help them.

If You Become Incapacitated

If you become unable to handle your own affairs, the instructions tell your loved ones to immediately locate and review your health care directives (living will) and durable power of attorney for finances, if you have made them. These important documents are discussed in more detail in Chapters 11 and 12.

The instructions are divided into three phases to help your survivors stay organized without getting overwhelmed:

•Days 1 and 2. The first phase focuses on tasks that need to be handled immediately following your incapacity or death, including caring for children or pets, and contacting your employer or business. If you have passed away, these instructions focus on carrying out your final arrangements, notifying family and friends of your death, and publishing your obituary.

•Week 2. The second phase covers tasks that are less urgent but still time-critical. These include locating your will or trust, reviewing current bills, and contacting important agencies and individuals, such as insurance agents, banks or brokers, service providers, and the Social Security Administration.

•Month 1 and Beyond. The third phase covers tasks for the first month or two—for example, taking inventory of your property and gathering information to prepare any necessary tax returns.

TIP

Complete this section after you finish the rest of your planner. The instructions direct your loved ones to the appropriate section of your planner for more information about each task they must handle. Because of this, it will be easiest for you to complete this section after you’ve worked your way through the rest of the planner. You’ll have all the information you need and the instructions will quickly fall into place for you.

In Your Planner

Turn to the Instructions section of your planner (Section 1). The following guidelines will help you complete the pages there.

CAUTION

Pay attention to checkboxes. Much of what you will do in this section of your planner is place check marks in boxes to tell your survivors whether or not certain topics apply to your situation. These checkboxes are marked “Yes” and “No.” Every topic also has a checkbox in front of it—do not mark these boxes. They are there so that your survivors can check off each task as they complete it.

If I Am Incapacitated

Begin with the section that highlights the two tasks related to incapacity.

•Review Health Care Directives. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether you have made documents to direct your health care if you become incapacitated. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Health Care Directives section of your planner (Section 11).

•Review Durable Power of Attorney for Finances. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether you have made a durable power of attorney for finances—that is, a legal document appointing someone to handle money matters for you if you become incapacitated. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Durable Power of Attorney for Finances section of your planner (Section 12).

Days 1 and 2

Check the necessary boxes to indicate which steps your survivors should take in the first 48 hours following your incapacity or death. In a couple of places, you will make additional notes to help direct your loved ones to important information.

•Care for Children. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether you have children that rely on your care. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Children section of your planner (Section 4).

•Care for Others. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether there are people other than children who rely on your care. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Others Who Depend on Me section of your planner (Section 5).

•Care for Animals. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether you have animals that rely on your care. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Pets and Livestock section of your planner (Section 6).

•Contact Employer. Check the appropriate box (Yes/No), indicating whether you are currently employed (including volunteer work). If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Employment section of your planner (Section 7).

•Contact Business. Check the appropriate box, indicating whether you have an active interest and personal involvement in a business. If you check “Yes,” the instructions refer to the Business Interests section of your planner (Section 8).

•Make Final Arrangements. You don’t need to provide any information here. This section tells your survivors how to prepare and order copies of your death certificate. It also directs them to the details of your wishes for body disposition and memorial services, asking them to turn to the planner sections on Organ or Body Donation (Section 13), Burial or Cremation (Section 14), and Funeral and Memorial Services (Section 15).

•Contact Family and Friends. Your loved ones are asked to contact family and friends who should know of your incapacity or death. To help them, provide the locations where you store contact information, such as an email or printed address book, your cellphone, or a special list that you’ve made for this purpose. (See the note about including related materials in your planner, below.)

•Review Appointment Calendar. The instructions ask your loved ones to contact anyone with whom you have an appointment. To help them, provide the location of your appointment calendar. It may be somewhere in your home, in a calendar that you carry with you, on your computer, on your cellphone, or online.

•Manage Mail and Newspaper. You don’t need to add anything to these tasks.

•Read My Last Letters. You don’t need to add anything to this task. Your loved ones are directed to Letter to Loved Ones (Section 2) for last letters or other goodbyes you may have left for them.

•Additional Notes. Include any additional comments or directions related to this first phase.

Week 2

Follow these steps to complete the information for the second phase.

•Locate Will or Other Estate Planning Documents. You don’t need to provide any information here. If you’ve made a will or trust, your survivors should locate it promptly, though they don’t have to review it in detail right away. This section simply directs your loved ones to the Will and Trust section of your planner (Section 17) to help them find your documents.

•Contact Organizations and Service Providers. In the weeks just following your incapacity or death, your loved ones will need to co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Table of Contents
• Your Get It Together Companion
• About This Book
• Completing Your Planner
• 1 Instructions
• 2 Letter to Loved Ones
• 3 Biographical Information
• 4 Children
• 5 Others Who Depend on Me
• 6 Pets and Livestock
• 7 Employment
• 8 Business Interests
• 9 Memberships and Communities
• 10 Service Providers
• 11 Health Care Directives
• 12 Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
• 13 Organ or Body Donation
• 14 Burial or Cremation
• 15 Funeral and Memorial Services
• 16 Obituary
• 17 Will and Trust
• 18 Insurance
• 19 Bank and Brokerage Accounts
• 20 Retirement Plans and Pensions
• 21 Government Benefits
• 22 Credit Cards and Debts
• 23 Secured Places and Passwords
• 24 Taxes
• 25 Real Estate
• 26 Vehicles
• 27 Other Income and Personal Property
• 28 Other Information
• Appendixes
• My Planner
• Index