More importantly, is your family ready for you to die? If God called you home right now would everyone concerned be ready for the event? There are a number of practical matters to keep in mind as relates to leaving your family on solid footing when you die. Recent deaths in the family just bring to mind some important concepts that I learned as an insurance agent and banker that I want you to keep in mind.
The average American often makes the false assumption that you only need life insurance for a funeral and burial and that it doesn’t cost that much to handle those things. It is an unfortunate fact that many families don’t account for the “extra” costs of death so lets focus on those for a few moments.
Few people realize that the costs of post mortem planning include the expense of a burial plot and tombstone. Tombstones are expensive and in addition can take weeks to months to be manufactured and installed. How many of you know of friends or perhaps have family members who’s grave sites can’t be found because no headstone was purchased due to insufficient insurance benefits at the time of death? It probably happens more that we would want to believe.
Wait a minute though. How about all the events prior to interment? It takes a few days to plan all of the necessary mortuary services with a funeral home, to pick a burial location with a cemetary and to arrange religious/memorial services for the deceased. Imagine how much easier it would be on your family if you were mindful of planning out the details of your final arrangements. I mean right down to the printed program.
Talk to a funeral home or insurance agent and ask for their version of a funeral planning kit. Write out the details of your services, from the church to the preacher, pall bearers and the other relevant stuff like that to make planning easier for those left behind. Be sure to keep it in a safe place and let a couple of people know where to find it.
Let’s take it a step further. Be sure your beneficiary information is up to date with your employer. If you work for a major corporation they typically provide this opportunity to you during the annual benefits enrollment period. You retirees need to keep up this habit after you leave the workforce. Your family status and health situation can change over time and your former employer should be kept apprised of these things so they can pay life insurance and retirement benefits properly when you pass on.
How about joint bank accounts? In some states all your bank needs is a copy of a death certificate as notification to remove the deceased person’s name from the account and you can continue using it without interruption. In other states the banks are required to put a freeze on all accounts associated with the deceased until all matters are probated. Learn your state laws now in case you have to transfer some money into an individual account before the bank puts a pinch on your finances at the most inconvenient time.
Have you made an appointment with the estate lawyer? Now would be a good day to take care of that. If you don’t have a will or a trust designating beneficiaries of assets, then you’re already behind the eight ball. Document your wishes legally. There are various forms of power of attorney should your general health or mental state deteriorate and you wind up needing someone you trust to make decisions for you. Someone other than the state needs to be able to handle your affairs. Document your wishes legally. Straighten that out before you become incapacitated.
It’s a pitiful state of affairs the way some families are needlessly thrown into disarray because no one wants to think about the inevitable. No one plans ahead because it can wait until tomorrow…until tomorrow actually comes.
It is really sad to hear how ignorant and assinine some people can be about their own families, especially where spouses are concerned. I can only shake my head at some of the crazy people I have heard say “I’m not leaving him/her a bunch of money to live it up with some other woman/man”. It’s like they are perfectly happy to leave their families in a shambles. What kind of love is that? Sand for brains. But some people are selfish enough to think this way and do absolutely no forward planning whatsoever. Makes you wonder what’s really going on behind closed doors in some households. But are you beginning to see the value of an annual policy review with your insurance agent?
Don’t be childish or foolish with the future of your family’s interests. Don’t wait to be that person in your family responsible for straightenting out a dead person’s unplanned mess before realizing the value of putting your own affairs in order. Do it now. Go thru the pain of all these processes before it actually becomes a pain for everyone else concerned.
The question, “Are you read to die?”, is one of salvation, purely between you and the Good Lord. But the question of the day, “Is your family read for you to die?”, is one of conscious preparation. So how and when do you answer the question?
