Future Planning 1 – End of Life Decisions

When I originally envisioned writing a blog on this topic I thought of it as a single entry. But like many of my blog entries, I do a lot of writing planning in my head before I sit down and compose at the keyboard. And the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I had way too many ideas to make a single entry. So, this will be just the first part of a six-part blog on the topic of end-of-life decisions.

It’s helpful to think about end-of-life decisions in two dimensions. In one dimension there are things that need to be considered before you die, and other things that need to be considered after you die. In the other dimension there are decisions that are medical in nature v. those that are non-medical in nature (primarily financial and legal). This divides the decision making space into four quadrants. And you will also find that the appropriate legal forms needed in each space are quite unique. Parts two through five of this blog will deal with each of these four quadrants separately as follows:

After death, non-medical – Wills and trusts

Before death, non-medical – Power of Attorney

Before death, medical – Advance Directives

After death, medical – Funerals, etc.

I will then have a few concluding remarks in part six.

I realize that many people have the attitude, as was expressed in a recent Facebook posting, “I don’t have [a will] either. I have nothing of value.” But as I will show in these blog entries, there is a lot more to end-of-life decisions than whether you believe you have something of value to be passed on to your heirs. So even if you feel this way, please read through what I have to say here.

And for those who think, “I have a will, so I’m covered,” don’t think that a will is all you need. As outlined above, a will only covers one part of the necessary end-of-life decisions that we need in today’s society. I hope that you find this valuable.

So – let’s get started! Please go to part 2.