House In Order, day 21

[cjsmith]

Advance Health Care Directive (medical power of attorney and living will) DONE. Need to print it out, get it signed by some witnesses, and hand out copies.

Insufferably proud of self. I had procrastinated this one for years.

Comments

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

You know, it strikes me that you might be interested in this community laurenhat started up, Beavers on Crack (http://community.livejournal.com/beaversoncrack/profile). It's to try & help people increase their productivity. Ironically I've really been to busy to do anything with it, but I hope to in future.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That does sound interesting. Thank you! That's how I've been using this journal lately: for accountability.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

That is a weird good feeling. I didn't think about it until I had Alan by c-section - but it is a relief to have it done. My MIL is a big fan of getting them done and found a simple one on the web.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I did a will once, through the JAG corps in the Army, when we were about to be shipped to the Gulf. (Turns out a bunch of us including me didn't go after all.) That was a weird good feeling too. That will is now *very* out of date... but everyone named in it is alive and at least I can say I HAVE a will.

But the health care stuff, nope, I've never done one of those before. For quite a few surgeries with general anaesthesia, they've asked when I'm doing the intake paperwork, but I never did it. Now if there's ever a problem Rob will be in a much better position to say that he knows my wishes.

[layer.livejournal.com]

that's one i've been putting off as well. i'll think about it next month.

did you do it on your own or did you use some sort of form or reference? if so, i'd love to know what it was.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Family Lawyer for Windows. It asks a bunch of questions and then prints seven pages of legalese.

[layer.livejournal.com]

awesome. thank you.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

watching mom die after having to sign lots of paperwork in the inner sanctum of ICU shook me up enough to have will, trust, health care POA, etc, all drawn up. signed them on my 30th bday, actually.

if she hadn't died, i doubt i'd have ever bothered.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ouch. That is a sad, sad reason to have all that stuff up to date... although it's good you have it. *hugs*.

(Trust? What do you use a trust for, if you don't mind the question? I haven't set one up for anything.)

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

yup, it was a pretty crappy way to go about things, but getting to see how things are done when you DON'T have health care POA, etc, really drove home the point.

i set up a Revocable Living Trust for my nephew. when i die, the money goes into trust for him, administered by a bank. i did it because his parents are divorced, and i didn't want there to be squabbles about money, and with his mother as the custodial parent, if the money went straight to him, she'd actually control it, and i didn't want that. but the trust only applies if i die before he's, oh, 30 or something. after that, it'll go to him outright.

(not that i'm wealthy, but i do have life insurance, enough that there'd be money left over after paying off the house and dumping me in the ground).

that makes me think that i should check the working ... just in case my brother and his wife-to-be have kids (which i think they will).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ouch - yes, that's really rough.

Cool about your nephew! I didn't know you had set that up for him. That's great. It's a good idea to do a little estate planning whether you're rich or poor. As you say, life insurance can make a difference.

Yeah, changes like gaining more nieces and nephews can mean redoing some of that stuff. If I do a will now I may have to revamp it completely in a few years when my brother and his wife, or my sister and her husband-to-be, start a family.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Rrrrrrrrockin. I still need to do my standard will. Any bets on how long I've been procrastinating on *that*? :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Hmm, since birth? ;-) That's how long I'd have been procrastinating on my will if I hadn't been in the Army during the Gulf war!

I need to do a new standard will because mine's hopelessly out of date. When I wrote it my largest asset was my car. I wrote that my sister should get it because my brother already had one. The picture that would create today is amusing. My sister is now a thirty-five-year-old attorney and I still have that very same car, now doddering along at age seventeen. Think she'd be impressed? I don't think the car would make it as far as her house! That will also does not mention my retirement savings, a house, or Rob. Details, details. I really oughtta fix that.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Well, I couldn't write, at birth, and I didn't own anything. Maybe I should date it from 1988, when suddenly I had a job and owned things. :-)