Getting your personal affair in order before you die is perhaps the best gift you can give your family. We help you do that by creating together your personalized Transitions Notebook.
What would happen if you died tomorrow? Or got very ill and couldn’t make medical decisions for yourself? Would your family know what to do? They will because you will have left instructions in your Notebook .
Do they know where your life insurance policies are? Or even what company provided them? The Transitions Notebook has that information, and it will also have a copy of your insurance policies.
Do they know where your Last Will & Testament is? Do you even have one? Again, your Notebook will not only contain the name and contact information for your estate attorney, you can also place in it a copy of your will and any trusts you may have drawn up.
How about your accountant or financial advisor? Do they know how to reach those important people?
And what about that hidden stash of cash no one in your family knows about? What would happen to it? Your Notebook will let your family know of both its existence and location.
Do they know about the safe deposit box you have at the bank, and where the key is?
You and your family will have all this information readily available once you have filled out your part of the Transitions Notebook.
Who is going to make medical decisions for you if you can’t? Have you written down what kind of care you want? What level of care? Do you want to be kept alive at all costs, or allowed to die naturally with little or no pain? Somewhere in between? Once completed, the Notebook will contain a legal document naming someone you trust as your Health Care Proxy, and it will include specific and detailed instructions about the medical care you want.
What about bills that you normally would pay and that have to continue to be paid – like the electric bill, your car payment, and the property taxes? To whom do you owe money every month? Does your family know? Who will continue those payments or cancel the service?
Have you left instructions about what kind of a memorial service you’d like to have – what hymns and reading? Do you want to be cremated? If so, where would you like your ashes to be placed or scattered? Does your family know that?
Who is going to take care of your dog or cat when you die?
What would happen if your wife or husband, or adult children have none of that information when you die? Or only some of it? In addition to the shock and grief over your loss, they would suddenly also have to make many decisions quickly, and without answers to these questions, they’d be lost.
Is that what you want to happen?
Unfortunately, as a hospice chaplain I saw such scenarios far too often. Spouses that didn’t even know where the checkbook was, or if there was a life insurance policy. Families numb with grief hardly knew where to start and needed lots of help from our hospice social workers and myself.
But what if all that information were collected together in one place? Wouldn’t it make life much easier for your family at a very difficult time in their lives?
That’s exactly what the Transitions Notebook is for.
Once you’ve completed filling it out, in one loose-leaf binder, your family will have at its fingertips:
Ö A list of Important Contacts with phone numbers and email addresses
Ö A Document Locator telling them where to find insurance policies, your Will, Social Security card, property deeds and car titles, and much more
Ö A list of Monthly Bills that will have to continue to be paid, and to whom
Ö A Tangible Assets Locator noting the location things like hidden cash, savings bonds and jewelry; keys and combinations to safes and your bank safety deposit box, real property, and so on
Ö A list of Account Numbers, User IDs, and Passwords for online access to all your financial accounts
Ö Instructions for your health care if you can’t make medical decisions for yourself
Ö Memorial service and burial instructions, along with options for both
Ö Sleeves where you can store important documents
The Transitions Notebook also contains a checklist in chronological order of tasks your family will need to complete immediately upon your death and in the days and weeks that follow.
Each Notebook is custom-created for your particular circumstances and needs.
In fact, the Notebook can be thought of as the core of the whole Transitions practice around which our other services have grown.
Depending on the level of service you’ve requested, the Transitions Notebook can also address your most pressing concerns and what matters most to you. For instance, you may be concerned about a particular health issue. If there’s a history of heart disease, cancer, or dementia in your family and you’re worried you may have the same condition down the road, we will provide basic information about that issue, where to find accurate further information about it, and who the top three medical professionals are for that condition in your region.
Perhaps you want to know who the best home health care aides or certified nursing assistants are in your area. We do the research for you and provide several suggestions.
One of the appendices to the Notebook is an annotated bibliography which contains books and other printed resources about your concern. Another appendix is a list of reputable online resources that can provide valuable information as well.
Or you may be considering moving to a retirement community or assisted living facility. As one of our services, we can provide information about several such places in your area that have good reputations and top ratings. The same goes for nursing homes and hospices. Information about our suggestions will be included in the Notebook as well.
The Transitions Notebook, once you’ve filled out your part of it becomes an extremely valuable document for everyone preparing for the last phase of their life, and eventually their death. It’s also a great gift for your family, saving them endless worry, time, and energy at a very difficult time for them.
For more information about the Transitions Notebook and our other services, contact us at 508-748-0286 or via email: peterconverse.compass@gmail.com.
