My girlfriend’s mother just passed unexpectedly this week. She hasn’t updated her will since the mid 80s, she had no medical directive, and seemingly did not have her life insurance long enough that they would cover anything, they are just refunding what she has paid to the present.
This has us both thinking about getting ourselves set up properly just in case. We haven’t paid it much mind until now as we don’t have all that much, and no kids, but now that we are seeing the difficulty not having those things brings when people least need added stress, we want to start pursuing it.
What have you done to prepare your family for these types of events and how did you determine what sort of insurance and plans you needed for your situation. Also have you ever either had to deal with a relative leaving no plans behind, or did someone do something that made the situation much easier?
My (unmarried) partner and I went to a lawyer together. The lawyer walked us through everything. We’re basically leaving things to each other, with backups in case that’s not an option. We have a special clause for who gets the dog if neither of us can–pup and some cash goes to a good friend, and we checked with friend ahead of time.
Lawyer asked us for any relatives we’d like to specifically exclude from inheritance, and she wasn’t judgey at the length of our lists.
We’re also each other’s health care powers of attorney and decision-makers.
I recommend doing this at a lawyer if you can, it makes things much less stressful.