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A Helpful Story

 

I’m writing this because if anything happened to you or your family members and you weren’t prepared, I would feel terrible that I didn’t share this story. Please plan for the unexpected and share your plans with loved ones.
 
I met with a long-time client and his five adult children at their Long Island home searching for his wife’s Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney while she lay in a coma. When we found her sister’s documents at their home, we immediately called her assuming the sisters had each other’s documents. She believed she did so I drove from the North Shore of Long Island to the South Shore only to find they were not the documents we needed. It took three days of searching before the family was able to say their good-byes to a very proud, terrific lady who had signed a DNR (DO NOT RESUSCITATE) which no one could find.
 
One week later, meeting with the family to transfer her IRAs to him, the family showed me a book that their mom had written. Don’t ask why…but I turned to the last page…and said aloud: wow, your mom was so organized. She states that her gold chain is inside the closet on a hook (not on the door…inside the closet behind the clothes), her rings and bracelets are in the upstairs medicine cabinet…in prescription and vitamin bottles. One daughter started to cry realizing that she and her aunt had just cleaned out the medicine cabinet and thrown everything in the garbage. Believe what you may but, in my opinion, their mom was really working hard from upstairs. The daughter ran outside because Dad left one large plastic garbage bag on the side of the house for the following day’s garbage pick-up. THE VITAMIN AND MEDICINE BOTTLES, ALONG WITH THE JEWELRY, WERE IN THAT BAG.
 
If you were gone or became incapacitated, could your loved ones find your will, social security number, the passwords to your computer, or your insurance/investment accounts? Please compile this inventory of personal information and advise your family where to find it. This could make all the difference to a traumatized and confused family trying to fulfill your final wishes.
 
As a Financial Professional, I have written this letter to help you eliminate the emotional stress and possible financial loss during a time when you may not be in control. If you’d
like a form to help you to identify where everything important is located, please go to my website www.FranCassidy.com and request your free copy of the family love letter.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Fran Cassidy, CLU, ChFC
PPG58173 (9/10)