Here is a little bit of encouragement to get your will prepared and let your family know where it is.
Read the article below just published in the Contra Costa Times (Contra Costa County, California)
First thing you need to do after you read the article is to get your Pre-Paid Legal Membership, and then have our attorneys prepare your will for you with your first month of membership--at no extra cost.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/grschmidt
Your living will--Advance Directive--will also be prepared for you at no extra cost.
Contact me to answer any questions or provide additional information.
George Schmidt
925-676-1926 or
888-559-2135 (toll free for messages only)
Your Last Wishes
By Joan Morris
CONTRA COSTA TIMES (Contra Costa County, California)
A MYSTERIOUS LITTLE key, found tucked away in a dusty desk drawer, remains as confounding today as it was 13 years ago when Terry Ann Black found it. But while Black never learned what the key opened, she has used it to unlock a door and assist others in sorting out the estates of departed loved ones.
Black, a Lafayette resident who has worked 40 years as a nurse, is the author of "Caring Is Not Enough: The Most Important Questions You Can Ask," a self-published booklet that contains more than 70 questions everyone should answer.
The responses are intended to help loved ones deal with banks, creditors, funeral homes and the other loose ends we leave behind when we die.
It is also an insurance policy against the kind of legal and emotional nightmare that enveloped Terri Schiavo and her family. After doctors concluded that Schiavo had suffered irreversible brain damage, her husband, Michael Schiavo, sought to remove life-sustaining measures and allow her to die. Schiavo's parents objected, and because the Florida woman had never written down her wishes, the case was bitterly fought in court and in the halls of public discourse, eventually involving Florida's governor and Congress.
Black's book is not a how-to, nor does it offer advice or direction on whether you should prolong life in circumstances such as Schiavo's. It is instead a checklist to ensure you've done everything you should, and a record for your loved ones to help ensure your last wishes are carried out.
"We work so hard to provide for our families," Black says, "and then we risk losing it all."
The book asks questions -- and provides a space for the answers -- about basic topics, but ones that it's doubtful we think about.
Do you have a will? When was it written? Do you have a copy? Where do you keep it? Who is your attorney? Does anyone have a durable power of attorney? Do you have a living will? Do you have advanced medical directives?
Black intends the book not only to be a record of information, but a gentle nudge to get people thinking about putting their affairs in order. It is not a question of if we will die, Black says, but of when. And most of us have no idea when that will be.
Black and her family were living in the Boston area in 1992 when her father-in-law died in a traffic accident. In the midst of the shock of his death and the grief over the loss, the family had to sort through the man's personal effects. And had to start from the very beginning.
They knew he had made a will, but they didn't know the attorney's name or where the will was kept. They knew he had a checking account, but they had to search for evidence of the bank, clues to savings accounts and investments.
While sorting through the mounds of material, Black found the key. It was easily recognizable as a safe deposit key, but it bore no indication of where the box was kept or information on what was contained inside. It could be important papers, stock certificates, even money. Or it might be sentimental things, old photographs, love letters, a promise ring from years ago.
"I would never ever know," Black says. No one ever located the box.
Later, when Black's mother died, she left a similar maze of paperwork. More confusion came when the will was located. It had been written many years earlier and property that her mother had willed to others had been lost, sold or given to someone else in the intervening years.
"You prepare for school, you plan for vacations, you plan for retirement," Black says, "but we never plan to die."
Her experiences led Black to write her book, which in 1992 contained 50 questions. Since then, she added more, keeping pace with the growing complications of life and death in the 21st century. In addition to questions about advanced directives and medical powers of attorney, she also recently added questions about computer passwords to protected investment accounts.
Even the most careful planner may slip up, Black says. She thought she and her husband had put everything in order. They have wills, they've created a trust fund, they know how they want their estate shared. But neither of them had filed advanced directives with their hospital.
They have now.
Joan Morris is a feature writer. Reach her at 925-977-8479 or jmorris@cctimes.com.
Questions to ask
A small sample of the many questions in "Caring Is Not Enough"
1. Do you have a will? Where is it kept?
2. Do you have a guardian for your minor children? Who is it and what is their phone number and address?
3. Do you own real estate other than your home? Where is it located?
4. Do you have a financial planner? What is the phone number where they can be reached?
5. Do you own a cemetery plot? Where is it located?
• Record vital information for your loved ones.
• Record your personal requests.
• Record your financial information.
• Record your medical information.
• Record important phone numbers.
• Protect yourself from interference by others.
Online
• To a read a sample of the questions asked in the book "Caring Is Not Enough," go to www.contracostatimes.com.
HOW TO ORDER
Copies of "Caring Is Not Enough: The Most Important Questions You Can Ask" are available by mail or through the author's Web site. Send a check or money order for $8 to Terry Ann Black, P.O. Box 1397, Lafayette, CA 94549, or use PayPal at www.caringisnotenough.net.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/health/12224466htm
Read the article below just published in the Contra Costa Times (Contra Costa County, California)
First thing you need to do after you read the article is to get your Pre-Paid Legal Membership, and then have our attorneys prepare your will for you with your first month of membership--at no extra cost.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/grschmidt
Your living will--Advance Directive--will also be prepared for you at no extra cost.
Contact me to answer any questions or provide additional information.
George Schmidt
925-676-1926 or
888-559-2135 (toll free for messages only)
Your Last Wishes
By Joan Morris
CONTRA COSTA TIMES (Contra Costa County, California)
A MYSTERIOUS LITTLE key, found tucked away in a dusty desk drawer, remains as confounding today as it was 13 years ago when Terry Ann Black found it. But while Black never learned what the key opened, she has used it to unlock a door and assist others in sorting out the estates of departed loved ones.
Black, a Lafayette resident who has worked 40 years as a nurse, is the author of "Caring Is Not Enough: The Most Important Questions You Can Ask," a self-published booklet that contains more than 70 questions everyone should answer.
The responses are intended to help loved ones deal with banks, creditors, funeral homes and the other loose ends we leave behind when we die.
It is also an insurance policy against the kind of legal and emotional nightmare that enveloped Terri Schiavo and her family. After doctors concluded that Schiavo had suffered irreversible brain damage, her husband, Michael Schiavo, sought to remove life-sustaining measures and allow her to die. Schiavo's parents objected, and because the Florida woman had never written down her wishes, the case was bitterly fought in court and in the halls of public discourse, eventually involving Florida's governor and Congress.
Black's book is not a how-to, nor does it offer advice or direction on whether you should prolong life in circumstances such as Schiavo's. It is instead a checklist to ensure you've done everything you should, and a record for your loved ones to help ensure your last wishes are carried out.
"We work so hard to provide for our families," Black says, "and then we risk losing it all."
The book asks questions -- and provides a space for the answers -- about basic topics, but ones that it's doubtful we think about.
Do you have a will? When was it written? Do you have a copy? Where do you keep it? Who is your attorney? Does anyone have a durable power of attorney? Do you have a living will? Do you have advanced medical directives?
Black intends the book not only to be a record of information, but a gentle nudge to get people thinking about putting their affairs in order. It is not a question of if we will die, Black says, but of when. And most of us have no idea when that will be.
Black and her family were living in the Boston area in 1992 when her father-in-law died in a traffic accident. In the midst of the shock of his death and the grief over the loss, the family had to sort through the man's personal effects. And had to start from the very beginning.
They knew he had made a will, but they didn't know the attorney's name or where the will was kept. They knew he had a checking account, but they had to search for evidence of the bank, clues to savings accounts and investments.
While sorting through the mounds of material, Black found the key. It was easily recognizable as a safe deposit key, but it bore no indication of where the box was kept or information on what was contained inside. It could be important papers, stock certificates, even money. Or it might be sentimental things, old photographs, love letters, a promise ring from years ago.
"I would never ever know," Black says. No one ever located the box.
Later, when Black's mother died, she left a similar maze of paperwork. More confusion came when the will was located. It had been written many years earlier and property that her mother had willed to others had been lost, sold or given to someone else in the intervening years.
"You prepare for school, you plan for vacations, you plan for retirement," Black says, "but we never plan to die."
Her experiences led Black to write her book, which in 1992 contained 50 questions. Since then, she added more, keeping pace with the growing complications of life and death in the 21st century. In addition to questions about advanced directives and medical powers of attorney, she also recently added questions about computer passwords to protected investment accounts.
Even the most careful planner may slip up, Black says. She thought she and her husband had put everything in order. They have wills, they've created a trust fund, they know how they want their estate shared. But neither of them had filed advanced directives with their hospital.
They have now.
Joan Morris is a feature writer. Reach her at 925-977-8479 or jmorris@cctimes.com.
Questions to ask
A small sample of the many questions in "Caring Is Not Enough"
1. Do you have a will? Where is it kept?
2. Do you have a guardian for your minor children? Who is it and what is their phone number and address?
3. Do you own real estate other than your home? Where is it located?
4. Do you have a financial planner? What is the phone number where they can be reached?
5. Do you own a cemetery plot? Where is it located?
• Record vital information for your loved ones.
• Record your personal requests.
• Record your financial information.
• Record your medical information.
• Record important phone numbers.
• Protect yourself from interference by others.
Online
• To a read a sample of the questions asked in the book "Caring Is Not Enough," go to www.contracostatimes.com.
HOW TO ORDER
Copies of "Caring Is Not Enough: The Most Important Questions You Can Ask" are available by mail or through the author's Web site. Send a check or money order for $8 to Terry Ann Black, P.O. Box 1397, Lafayette, CA 94549, or use PayPal at www.caringisnotenough.net.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/health/12224466htm
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