You may know that there are things a family should do to ensure you and your loved ones are properly cared for after your death. However there are still many families caught off guard each year due to a tragedy of a spouse or parent. This planning center is intended to give you, as a parent or spouse, a starting place to begin considering eleven different topics. These topics can mean the difference between comfort and chaos to a family during a time of grief. These sections are helpful planning tools in case you or a spouse pass away or become incapacitated due to an accident, coma or mental disease.

This Family Life Plan is more in depth than a typical estate planning kit. It helps you consider a more rounded approach of caring for your loved ones, taking into account everything from updating your beneficiaries to recording important information like child immunization records, account information and household handy man contacts. It is very normal in today's busy world, for one spouse to manage one side of the family, like finances, and the other to manage the house and children. Both sets of information are key to managing a family. The idea behind this plan is to make the transition during a tragedy more about grieving the person and not about a second tragedy due to the lack of information, like bank accounts, where wills are stored, information about children, etc. Review this plan every year as an exercise with your spouse.

The fact is that every year many families lose a parent or a spouse to death, coma, and mental diseases like Alzheimer. And it is also a fact that many of these families are unprepared to live life after the tragedy and must face many hours of hardship because they do not have access to financial or utility accounts, estate planning documents, and other very valuable family information.  Without proper planning, it is a real possibility that your family may not have access to enough income right away, may be evicted or lose the house, and have to borrow money from family or friends to make ends meet.

Take the time today to begin planning and have peace of mind that you or your loved ones will have the best possible situation if something should occur. This plan consists of eleven sections. We suggest to work on one or two sections a week with your spouse. Take time after work or on the weekends making these vital decisions and collecting this information.  Talking about death and what may happen after is always a tough subject to talk about. However it is such a vital discussion. It will be one of the most important tasks you ever perform. Completing this plan will make all the difference one day.

Content on this site is for general information purposes. It should not be relied upon as legal, financial or tax advice. It does not constitute a contract or an attorney client relationship. You should always consult a professional when making legal, financial or tax decesions.