In cases of an untimely death, in addition to grief, the survivors are almost always faced with the task of settling the affairs of the deceased.
A Florida neighbor passed away unexpectedly, and his children came to settle the final affairs. While he had a duly executed will, the last five years of his life were a mystery to be unraveled. Sorting out his financial and social affairs was a literal nightmare. Bank accounts, insurance policies, medical bills, loans and obligations of every type had to be sorted out... from scratch. Three very large paper bags, and the contents of a three drawer filing cabinet has to be sorted through... paper by paper. Two weeks of work for two people (me being one of them)...
There were many, many surprises, beyond those which would be expected. The local hospital and several doctors, were dunning for medical bills in excess of 250K, for some recent hospitalizations. Had we not gone through the entire billing history, we would not have dicovered billing errors, and double billing totalling $60+K... In addition, just looking through some innocuous looking documents, we found a somewhat unusual insurance plan from his union membership. This looked to be long forgotten, and no mention in the will. Another $20K... As he used a computer, access was blocked... not only to the desktop, but to other linked websites, to banks, brokers stc... Only after the chance discovery of a password written in pencil under the keyboard, were we able to begin research on possible important links.
To be fair, the neighbor had tried to keep important records, and bonds, titles and an insurance policy were kept in a safety deposit box, but the extra work that we did in research located about $20K, in addition to the above mentioned finds.
And so the point of the post... Whether age 30 or age 90, unexpected disabilities or death are not impossible. Waiting until one is "old enough to die" to draw a pathway to important papars and funds is simply avoiding unpleasant thoughts. Even some unimportant seeming records could mean unecessary work, and at worst, the loss of assets.
As a starter to put perspective on the types of information that should be available, this website provides a free framework that can help sort out the things that could be important for you, your relatives, or a loved one.
Everplans Stores Useful Data In Case of Your (or Someone Else's) Death
A Florida neighbor passed away unexpectedly, and his children came to settle the final affairs. While he had a duly executed will, the last five years of his life were a mystery to be unraveled. Sorting out his financial and social affairs was a literal nightmare. Bank accounts, insurance policies, medical bills, loans and obligations of every type had to be sorted out... from scratch. Three very large paper bags, and the contents of a three drawer filing cabinet has to be sorted through... paper by paper. Two weeks of work for two people (me being one of them)...
There were many, many surprises, beyond those which would be expected. The local hospital and several doctors, were dunning for medical bills in excess of 250K, for some recent hospitalizations. Had we not gone through the entire billing history, we would not have dicovered billing errors, and double billing totalling $60+K... In addition, just looking through some innocuous looking documents, we found a somewhat unusual insurance plan from his union membership. This looked to be long forgotten, and no mention in the will. Another $20K... As he used a computer, access was blocked... not only to the desktop, but to other linked websites, to banks, brokers stc... Only after the chance discovery of a password written in pencil under the keyboard, were we able to begin research on possible important links.
To be fair, the neighbor had tried to keep important records, and bonds, titles and an insurance policy were kept in a safety deposit box, but the extra work that we did in research located about $20K, in addition to the above mentioned finds.
And so the point of the post... Whether age 30 or age 90, unexpected disabilities or death are not impossible. Waiting until one is "old enough to die" to draw a pathway to important papars and funds is simply avoiding unpleasant thoughts. Even some unimportant seeming records could mean unecessary work, and at worst, the loss of assets.
As a starter to put perspective on the types of information that should be available, this website provides a free framework that can help sort out the things that could be important for you, your relatives, or a loved one.
Everplans Stores Useful Data In Case of Your (or Someone Else's) Death
