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Thinking Ahead

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Thinking ahead
Talk to your parents

History is rife with people who left us before their time. For example, our long-term family accountant died in his sleep 3 days before Tax Day.  While he had an executed will, he did not tell the family where his list of passwords was.  There is also a long list of famous people who died without a will. In short, it pays to be at prepared.  Help your parents prepare by helping them  execute a will and fill in an Instruction letter.

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No one wants to talk about end of life issues, but it is a fact that information is easy to access and collect only at certain points in time, like when it is happening, or when your parents are able to discuss it.  After that it becomes much more time consuming and expensive to collect that same information.

For Administrators, executors and senior family members anytime is a good time to start a file that includes both documents above and the items below. Wzee has designed a format to collect and store this information and can be access via a low monthly subscription.  

 

Alternatively one could also start a physical file to collect and hold copies of these documents.

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Below is a list of documents and data that should be collected while the information is freely accessible:

  • Birth/Wedding/Death Certificates

  • Government picture ID’s

  • Family, friend, professional contact information

  • Social Security Number, credit cards, Health and Medical cards

  • Safe Deposit box location and keys, lock box, safe

  • Location of keys, combinations, passwords

  • Property deeds, vehicle registrations, titles

  • Prepaid assets: cemetery plots, time shares, personal loans

  • Outstanding debts, especially those secured by assets

  • Tax and financial records

  • The owners’ “personal box” or files, whether physical or digital

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It is important to know where these items are located. Make a definitive list of the location where these documents are and make a copy of all documents and images. A Wzee subscription includes free secure digital document storage (up to 2 gb) where a pre-formatted sheet is available to store this information along with legal documents, financial spreadsheets and accounting sheets which can be easily accessed by any members of your team with proper credentials.

There comes a point when thinking ahead comes in handy

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There are a number of big issues to start thinking about as parents age.  The sooner these issues are at least discussed, or better yet solved, the better. 

At a high level:

  • What are your parents’ plans for independent living?

    • Do they hope or plan to age in place?

    • Are they targeting an independent or assisted living facility?

  • Have they reviewed the costs and benefits of either option?

    • Aging in place has its advantages but someone needs to ensure the current living situation is safe and healthy especially if they need to drive in order to take care of daily errands.

    • Independent/Assisted Living facilities are great options but come at both personal and financial costs.

  • What is the approximate size of your parent’s estate? 

    • The 2021 Federal exemption for estate taxes is $11,700,000.  That number could change with each new Administration.

    • A number of states have lower limits on estate tax in addition to potentially onerous “Estate Tax Cliffs” for estate valuations over their set limits.

    • Having this information allows parents and offspring to tax plan effectively.

  • Are there plans to live with existing family members.

    • This is a fantastic idea but comes with many of the same questions, plus a few more..

 

On ground level:

There will be the inevitable point that someone will need to step in during a big, or small emergency to either make decisions of have information handy alleviate roadblocks or solve billing issues.

  • Having copies of all personal ID cards, credit cards, registrations, etc. can ease burdens on all involved

  • Going the next step and having executed Health Care Proxies, Power of Attorney letters and even joint signing authority is important.

  • Understanding all upcoming events including birthdates, tax dates, appointments provides a great backup to elders.

  • Access to entities that can help de-clutter and eventually sell or give away items eases the transition burden.

Wzee provides these services and more via our subscription service.  We provide state-specific help and guidelines, a calendar function to help organize events, and safe document storage for documents and images that can be viewed on demand.                 to view our offering.

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