At our May 2018 Aging Well event (“Creating a Master Plan for Aging”), speaker Miriam Kelty focused on ways to minimize the burden that will fall on family and friends when we’re no longer able to manage our own affairs, or have passed away. Attendees received a copy of “What My Family Should Know: a guide for getting your affairs in order.” Find it at tinyurl.com/what-my-family-should-know-PDF. A Word version is at tinyurl.com/what-my-family-should-know.
A Washington Post article from 2018 covers similar territory: “Let’s talk about the Big Book: Everything your family needs to know when you die” by Thomas Heath, Washington Post, May 18, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/WAPO-Big-Book.
See also "The Power (and Joy) of Being Prepared" by Tara Parker-Pope, from the NY Times, Jan. 7, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/well/family/end-of-life-planning.html
Estate Planning Tasks and Tips is a useful series of articles from Washington Consumers Checkbook, Fall 2021/Winter 2022, vol. 21, no. 1.
Fill out a "File of Life" form to post on your refrigerator, providing rescue service personnel critical information about you in case of emergency. See https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcfrs-info/tips/seniors/fileoflife.html. Click here for a copy of the form, or call 311 to request one via mail.