I'm not being paid by an attorney to write this- just writing from a "fresh" personal experience. If you or a loved one passed away tomorrow- what would become of your hard earned savings? What about the cherished "Grandfather" clock that has been passed through generations? Or how about trivial things like your car or baseball card collection that you've had since... whenever? What about the important decisions like: "do not resuscitate" orders, whom your savings should be directed to, who makes decisions regarding your care if you are deemed incapable to do so?--- Etc....
I recently had the agonizing experience of having a step-father pass away from a hard fought bout with cancer. What made this experience even worse was that he did not have a will; and as studies show he isn't/wasn't alone. As a matter of fact, almost 70% of Americans do not have a living will. When most people think of Will's- money, inheritance, and other passable assets come to mind; in this case there won't be any. He only spent about 3 weeks of 2010 not in a hospital or long-term care room- so when the hospitals are done collecting what they can- there will likely be balances still owed.
Not having a will also meant that when he was brought to the emergency room for a condition that would end up taking his life just 4 days later, no one who loved and cared for him that were present could make any decisions. We had to sit back and watch as a social worker pressed him for questions to determine if his voice could give authorization for us to direct his care. After asking some questions that even I wasn't sure I could answer correctly- it was determined that he was not able to make decisions for himself and therefore we would have to wait until someone in the "blood-line" came to make the decisions, which in the end took several hours.
Because my stepfather didn't have a will:
- we were very restricted on decisions to be made regarding things like (do not resuscitate)
- had to rely on others for information
- every asset that did not have a Payable On Death directive on it became the property of the State of Ohio until such time that unpaid medical claims were processed.
- None of my family were listed anywhere for Payable On Death "benefits"- and we knew this- we were only there to support him and give input for things we knew he wanted.
- there was no Executor to be named, therefore one would be appointed by the State.
- the list goes on and on.
In his final week, 2/3 of those empowered to make decisions regarding his care were rare sights at the hospital.
I say all of this, not as a sob story for me- but so that my experience in what has been a rather emotionally exhausting time can be a teachable moment for someone else. If you don't have a will you need to get one. Contact an attorney, buy a software package, assign a Power of Attorney, whatever it is- but do it. Don't put it off, your loved ones will need you to have made the difficult decisions before you are gone so that in their grieving moments they can simply direct traffic and not have to create the road.
I don't have a living will- but you can be assured that within a few weeks one will be established.