Hugs Not Signatures During Your Final Days

As I was packing up for the day, getting ready to leave the office, I received a call that a 72-year old woman in the care of hospice was ready to prepare a trust and express her dying wishes. Assembling the necessary forms, I knew that at this stage of her disease this process would be stressful on her and those around her. Not exactly, how one expects their last days to be.

You know the many reasons for creating a trust, preferable over a will – it’s a private record not a public one, the fees are less; and decisions can be made without judicial approval.  

When I arrived at my client’s home, I found her under the effect of morphine and possibly incompetent.  It was necessary to secure a doctor’s evaluation that she indeed was competent before we began. Luckily, in this case, her estate was a manageable size and she had only one adult child. Yet we faced daily challenges until the trust was notarized.  There were times when she was too ill or asleep and could not meet.  At times, we thought she might become incompetent (she didn’t). And every day we didn’t know if we’d lose her before the work was done. After five days of constant contact with her son, meeting with her privately, and traveling back and forth to her home at all hours – the trust was completed.  The next day she died.

Don’t put yourself and your children through this.  Meet now not tomorrow with an estate planning attorney and complete your trust. This way your last days can be spent sharing precious memories with your loved ones, gazing out the window, and saying final good-byes to the important people in your life.

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