Autumn starts tomorrow and the weather will be getting colder and wetter. In New Jersey, we can get hit by huge storms that knock out power lines and that flood houses. If your house were hit by a disaster, would your important documents get soaked? Do you have an inventory of your assets? Do you remember where you put your will, your durable power of attorney, and your advanced health care directive?
Most of us say we'll get around to it when we have more time. But the reality is that we never have more time. And most of us are not good at organizing. It's a skill set that we never developed because it was never that important to us.
But not being organized costs you money in the long run. You wind up duplicating what you have because you can't find the originals. You can't provide to the insurance company a detailed list of your assets and their value so the insurance company doesn't reimburse you properly.
I would be happy to send a copy of my form of Document and Asset Locator to anyone who asks. It's free and you only have to call my office at 201-251-8001 or send me an email at RGronsky@Gronskylaw.com and I will send it right out. This weekend, take a half-hour with the whole family and make it a game to videotape all of your belongings. The next week, have a scavenger hunt and give a reward to the child who can find your will, your durable power of attorney, and your advanced health care directive. If you don't have these documents drafted and signed yet, call your estate planning lawyer immediately for an appointment. Don't stop to think about when you have time to schedule these things. Just make the appointment. You'll force yourself to juggle everything around the appointment and that's a good thing. As the Girl Scouts say, "Be prepared."
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Do Your Loved Ones Have Your Passwords?
I’ll bet you never even thought to ask that question. I have a lot of my life on my computer right now – financial statements, bank statements, online bills, photos, email boxes (several of those), and membership on social networking sites. For each of these different places, I need a separate user name and password. On some of these sites, I need to keep changing my password for security purposes.
If I got hit by a bus tomorrow, would my family know how to access my computer life? Yes, for the most part. I have a list (that I need to check to make sure that it’s up-to-date) of what my user names and passwords are. If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, would your family know how to get to your online accounts?
Are you aware that Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo and other sites that create accounts for you will make it very difficult for your loved ones to access your account after you die if they do not have your user name and password? One family had to go to court to get Yahoo to release the emails in their son’s mailbox.
The more we use cyberspace to store information, conduct our financial lives, and interact with our friends, the more we need to make sure that our family can gain access to that information in the event of our untimely death. Don’t make your family have to go to court to get something to which you can easily gain access. When you create your list of persons to contact when you die, add in the information for your online accounts. Save your loved ones that headache.
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.Gronskylaw.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at RGronsky@Gronskylaw.com. Thank you!
If I got hit by a bus tomorrow, would my family know how to access my computer life? Yes, for the most part. I have a list (that I need to check to make sure that it’s up-to-date) of what my user names and passwords are. If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, would your family know how to get to your online accounts?
Are you aware that Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo and other sites that create accounts for you will make it very difficult for your loved ones to access your account after you die if they do not have your user name and password? One family had to go to court to get Yahoo to release the emails in their son’s mailbox.
The more we use cyberspace to store information, conduct our financial lives, and interact with our friends, the more we need to make sure that our family can gain access to that information in the event of our untimely death. Don’t make your family have to go to court to get something to which you can easily gain access. When you create your list of persons to contact when you die, add in the information for your online accounts. Save your loved ones that headache.
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.Gronskylaw.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at RGronsky@Gronskylaw.com. Thank you!
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