Get It Together

Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To

Publication Date October 2008

Edition 3

ISBN 9781413309096

Pages 432 pp

Forms 28 forms

Book w/CD

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Description

Get your life organized with the best workbook available!

Paperwork and personal information isn't always easy to find, and organizing your records can seem like an intimidating task. But, whether you need to organize records for yourself, your family or your executor, Get It Together will show you how to keep track of:

instructions for survivors
secured places and passwords
final arrangements
estate planning documents
employment records
insurance policies
tax records
retirement accounts
government benefits, and
real estate records.

This workbook provides a complete system for structuring a records binder and easily organizing it for your loved ones. The all-new 3rd edition is easier to use than ever, with fully updated resources and references. And, if you'd like to work on your computer, use the CD-ROM and print your work and put it into a binder.

Forms

The book contains 28 blank tables where you can organize information about the following topics:

Letter to Loved Ones
Instructions for Loved Ones
Biographical Information
Children
Others Who Depend on Me
Pets and Livestock
Employment
Business Interests
Memberships
Service Providers
Health Care Directives
Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
Organ or Body Donation
Burial or Cremation
Funeral and Memorial Services
Obituary
Will and Trust
Insurance
Bank and Brokerage Accounts
Retirement Plans and Pensions
Government Benefits
Credit Cards and Debts
Secured Places and Passwords
Taxes
Real Estate
Vehicles
Other Income and Personal Property
Other Information

About This Book

A. Who Needs to Plan Ahead?
B. How It Works
C. The Perils of Incomplete Planning

Completing Your Planner

A. What the Planner Contains
B. Seven Steps to Preparing Your Planner
C. After You Finish Your Planner

1. Letter to Loved Ones

A. Tips for Writing Your Letter
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Letter Up to Date

2. Instructions

A. In Your Planner
B. Keeping Your Documents Up to Date

3. Biographical Information

A. Where to Get Help
B. In Your Planner
C. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

4. Children

A. Arranging Care for Children
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

5. Others Who Depend on Me

A. In Your Planner
B. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

6. Pets and Livestock

A. Arranging Care for Pets
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

7. Employment

A. In Your Planner
B. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

8. Business Interests

A. Estate Planning for Small Business Owners
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

9. Memberships

A. Types of Memberships
B. Membership Benefits for Survivors
C. Transferring Frequent Flyer Miles
D. Where to Get Help
E. In Your Planner
F. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

10. Service Providers

A. In Your Planner
B. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

11. Health Care Directives

A. Types of Health Care Directives
B. How Health Care Directives Work
C. Choosing Your Health Care Agent
D. What You Can Cover in Your Health Care Directives
E. Duty of Medical Personnel to Honor Your Health Care Directives
F. Where to Get Help
G. In Your Planner
H. Keeping Your Documents Up to Date

12. Durable Power of Attorney for Finances

A. How Durable Powers of Attorney for Finances Work
B. Choosing Your Agent
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Documents Up to Date

13. Organ or Body Donation

A. Do You Want to Be a Donor?
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

14. Burial or Cremation

A. Burial or Cremation?
B. Related Decisions
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

15. Funeral and Memorial Services

A. Types of Memorial Services
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

16. Obituary

A. What to Include in Your Obituary
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Obituary Up to Date

17. Will and Trust

A. Which Estate Planning Documents Do You Need?
B. An Overview of Wills and Trusts
C. Choosing Your Executor or Successor Trustee
D. Avoiding Probate
E. Where to Get Help
F. In Your Planner
G. Keeping Your Documents Up to Date

18. Insurance

A. What Kind of Insurance Do You Need?
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

19. Bank and Brokerage Accounts

A. Making Your Accounts Accessible
B. Avoiding Probate for Bank and Brokerage Accounts
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

20. Retirement Plans and Pensions

A. Planning for Your Retirement
B. What Happens to Retirement Accounts When You Die?
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

21. Government Benefits

A. About Social Security
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

22. Credit Cards and Debts

A. Evaluating and Reducing Debt
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

23. Secured Places and Passwords

A. Who Has Access to Your Safe Deposit Box?
B. In Your Planner
C. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

24. Taxes

A. Tax Basics
B. Estate and Inheritance Taxes
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

25. Real Estate

A. Ways to Own Property
B. Special Rules for Married Couples
C. Where to Get Help
D. In Your Planner
E. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

26. Vehicles

A. Leaving Your Vehicles to Others
B. Where to Get Help
C. In Your Planner
D. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

27. Other Income and Personal Property

A. In Your Planner
B. Keeping Your Information Up to Date

Index

Sample Content

Introduction: About This Book

Introduction

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
-- Danny Kaye, entertainer and UNICEF ambassador (1913-1987)

This book will help you get organized for your own benefit and, eventually, for the benefit of your loved ones. You'll use it to complete a planner that contains everything your caretakers or survivors need to know, including critical personal, legal, and financial information.

Your planner will be a thorough and easy-to-follow guide for your family and close friends. With your planner in hand, your loved ones can more easily step in and take care of things if you become incapacitated or when you die.

Who Needs to Plan Ahead?

If you picked up this book, you're probably feeling the need to get organized. Or perhaps you want to help someone else put things in order -- maybe an elderly parent or an ailing friend. Any adult can benefit from making a planner, even those without a lot of money or property, but some people might find the process particularly useful.

Seniors

As we age, most of us feel some concern about what would happen if we became ill and unable to make our own medical or financial decisions. And we wonder how our loved ones will take care of things after we die. If you're elderly, making a planner can smooth the way for your caretakers and survivors. You can gather together your health care wishes, financial plans, legal documents, and important personal information, and arrange these things in a format that will make sense to others. Those close to you will likely view your planner as a small miracle -- and a wonderful gift.

People Facing a Serious Illness

If you are ill and concerned that at some point you may no longer be able to care for yourself, making a planner can help you find some peace of mind. While you're able, you can document your wishes for medical care, name someone to take care of your finances, write down what you want to have happen to your property and your body after death, and organize personal information and important paperwork for your family and friends. This book is designed to help you organize things a little bit at a time, with help if necessary; you can pick and choose the issues that are most important to you.

Family Members and Other Caretakers

If you are caring for an older or ailing person -- such as a parent, grandparent, or friend -- you're probably grappling with both strong emotions and lots of practical tasks. You may find it useful to help your family member or friend complete a planner. It will probably be a great relief to have personal wishes, financial information, and important legal paperwork at your fingertips.

If you have been named as an agent for health care or financial matters, executor of a will, or successor trustee of a living trust, a good planner will provide the framework that you need to carry out your eventual responsibilities in an orderly, informed way.

If you're using this book to help someone else make a planner, keep in mind that the instructions are written primarily for people who are making planners for themselves -- but there's no reason you can't use the instructions to help another person through the process.

Parents and Young Adults

If you are young, you may want to use this book to get off to a good start -- getting and staying organized. This book will show you how to understand and keep track of your important records, providing a solid foundation for years to come.

If you have young children, this book can help you ensure that they are provided for if something happens to you. It can alert you to the important documents you need and show you how to organize important information so your wishes for your children will be carried out if the need arises.

People Planning Travel or Deployment

When we're leaving town -- especially if we're leaving family for an extended period -- many of us think about what might happen if we were injured, or worse, while away from home. This book can help you get organized so that, when you leave, you will know that your affairs and records are in order and will be easily available to those who may need to step in.

How It Works

Similar to income tax or school exam materials, this book contains both instructions and companion forms. These two parts of the book are the guide and the planner:

The guide. The first part of the book is your instruction manual. Each chapter describes a topic and shows you how to pull together the information and documents you will need.
The planner. The second part of the book contains the forms where you'll actually record your information. If you prefer to use a computer, the book includes a CD-ROM with all the forms you'll need to create your planner.

To make your work easier, the guide and planner follow the same chapter sequence. For example, the first chapter in the guide helps you write a letter to your survivors, and that letter is also the first section of the planner.

The sequence of your planner is designed to create an easy, ready reference for your survivors. The planner begins with the materials that your loved ones will need immediately if you become incapacitated or die, and progresses to information they will need over time. But don't think you have to tackle the most daunting tasks right away. Rather than completing your planner from front to back, you can skip ahead and complete some of the simplest sections first. (You'll learn more about this in the next chapter, which contains specific suggestions and tips for completing your planner.)

You may want to take a moment now to page through the entire book, familiarizing yourself with the layout and the various topics.

Making Legal Documents

In the guide, you'll find lots of material to help you make the important legal documents you may need: health care directives, powers of attorney, your will, a living trust, and more. The guide also shows you how to add information about these documents to your planner. But it doesn't contain legal forms for you to fill out. Instead, you'll find basic information about each document and suggestions for how to prepare them -- either on your own or with a lawyer's help.

The Perils of Incomplete Planning

Using this book will help you think through all the details so your family won't find themselves in a situation like this:

An organized, thoughtful woman worked diligently, pulling together information that her loved ones would need when she died. She studiously wrote out her wishes, secured burial arrangements, gathered documents, and stored all of the papers in a bank safe deposit box.

She was conscientious about reviewing and updating the information over time. She taped her spare safe deposit box key to an index card, and carefully wrote the number of the safe deposit box on the card. She showed the key and box number to her grown children and stored the index card conveniently in the top drawer of her desk.

When she died, her children met at her home. They retrieved the index card from her desk. Only then did they realize that she had neglected to tell them one small detail: the location of her safe deposit box. She had moved several times, and they didn't know where to start -- which bank, at which branch or address, or even in which town.

And even if they had known where to look for the box, they would have been in for a shock. The papers that would have authorized them to look inside were locked in the box itself!

Planning ahead can make all the difference to your survivors. Read on to learn how.

Legal Updates

Here are summaries of important legal or procedural changes that affect the latest edition of this product.

Whats New in the 3rd Edition of Get It Together

Overview of What''s New

All resources that help you complete your planner -- websites, phone numbers, and publications -- have been updated for this edition.

Who Needs the New Edition?

You Need the New Edition If:you haven't yet completed a planner and want the latest resources to help you put it together.

Chapters Most Affected

All chapters have been thoroughly updated.

Forms That Have Changed

Minor substantive changes have been made to the following sections of the planner:

Instructions for Loved Ones
Insurance
Bank and Brokerage Accounts, and
Credit Cards and Debts.

There are also formatting changes in the planner that make it easier to use.

Connecticut Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage

Legal Solutions for You, Your Family & Your Business