Death Planning

Even if you don’t have much in terms of assets and net worth, but without question especially if you do, there are a number of steps you should take to make life better for your heirs – to facilitate the financial aspects of your passing. Much has been said/written about having frank sit-down discussions with family/heirs, but sometimes there may be a lot more relevant to what you need to provide to them, other than general commentary and “here is where I put my will”.

As to your will and various important documents, they need to be kept securely. A locked filing cabinet or fireproof safe for your home would certainly be one possibility – but make sure that somebody knows the location, as well as has access to the keys, combination or whatever. Otherwise, you might have accomplished nothing. An alternative to maintaining such documents at home is to entrust them with say your estate attorney – if applicable. Or perhaps with that really good friend.

In this day and age, having various documents in digital form is always a good idea, and to a degree, perhaps superior to having them on paper. That’s not to say you shouldn’t have paper – it’s very helpful to have original paper versions of such important documents as your will, Power of Attorney (POA), DNR, etc. However, having a backup in the form of electronic media, or even having such stored in a cloud storage system (tread cautiously here) might be advisable.

While there are a plethora of documents and information that would be important for your family to be able to access, let’s just highlight a few that are particularly important and also very common:

• Passwords & codes – need I say more.

• Certain contact people – names, telephone numbers, email addresses – of people who are of particular relevance to your financial life.

• Certainly, your will(s) as well as any Trust documents.

• POA relevant to finances and health care. Note certain POAs do not survive death. This is a legal issue.

• You might want to draft a separate letter of preferences or instructions for your heirs. Perhaps not as legal and final or official as a will – but something that maybe can cut through all the fancy legal language in the will and make life simpler for all. This would be especially relevant in a friendly family. If you don’t have a friendly family, tread carefully.

• Bank & financial statements – or at least a vehicle for reaching out and accessing same. This would include of course retirement account documents.

• Life insurance policies – make sure it’s clear who the beneficiaries are.

• Funeral instructions – though as a practical matter, if accessing that information is going to take time, it may be past when the funeral happened or should have happened.

If you have any questions contact Kal Barson at kal@barsongroup.com.