Life Inventory: Introduction

Your "life inventory" should contain everything that your family needs to know in the event that you die or are incapacitated and you should store it in a format that they can use it and it can be kept safe.

Over the last 10 years several people have died that were close to me.  I wanted to share something I learned from those experiences with you

In 2003 my paternal grandmother was diagnosed with colon and pancreatic cancer.  Since my father was an only child, the care for my terminally ill grandmother fell to him.  In 2005 she died and the settlement of the estate also fell to him.  Luckily she had spoken extensively to my father about her wishes and plans.

In 2008 my maternal grandfather was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of his prostate cancer.  All of my maternal grandparents’ children still lived but they had designated my uncle as power of attorney (both financial and medical) as well as a trustee of their revocable living trust.  In 2010 my maternal grandfather died and shortly after that my grandmother’s dementia became severe enough that she was no longer able to care for herself.  Both of my maternal grandparents had spoken at length to all of their children about their wishes and assets.

In 2011 my wife’s paternal step-grandfather was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of his prostate cancer.  He had not designated a power of attorney, nor had he discussed his wishes regarding medical treatments and financial planning.  He also had not discussed with his children (or step-children) the existence or location of a while.  In 2013 he died.  For months there was confusion about whether a will existed and if it did where it was located and which version of the will was the most current one.  We spent months piecing together his finances and wishes by looking for clues in the mail, prior tax returns, and digging through all of his archived records.

In 2013 a family friend of mine’s brother died unexpectedly due to complications from surgery.  My friend’s brother had not discussed his finances, wishes, or recorded the information of his life for the rest of his family.  This meant his brother was left trying to determine how to administer the estate.

In the first two examples, family members spent a great deal of effort to provide detailed records of their lives to help their family members in the event of their death.

In the second two examples, the family members did not provide detailed records of their lives to help their family members in the event of their death.

I’ve spoken with other people who have dealt with this situation and he suggested the term “life inventory” to describe the type of records useful to your family members in the event of your death.

I have haphazardly kept such records for myself but with my recent experiences, I’ve been collecting and recording this information for my family far more systematically.  Over several blog entries, I hope to provide some guidance about the type of information that you should record for your family.  The life inventory is the collection of all information that your family might need in the event of your death or incapacitation.

You may find this topic unsettling or morbid; however, this is something that you can do to help them.  They will most likely be devastated by your death and unable to function.  By collecting this information now you can help them out immeasurably.   Plus, as in my situation, it is a means of ensuring that your family is aware of every benefit that you planned to provide for them.