The American Bar Association’s Consumer’s Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning is a collection of worksheets and suggestions for end of life planning.
There are 10 tools including advice on selecting a health care proxy and a worksheet about end of life priorities and more.
I often say that planning is key to handling aging and end of life decisions, but sometimes “planning” can be nebulous. Where do you begin? What does it really mean?
These tools are simple, but they really make you think and are a good starting point for conversation.

As you know, I’m all about planning ahead, making your wishes known, and, having information readily accessible to your family in the event of an emergency.
I’ve not used this before, but, I just ran across it, and, I thought I’d share the link to Confidant Solutions, software that helps you create a complete record of personal critical information, and distribute your record to family members for backup.
It generates e-mail files to distribute your critical personal information to the people of your choosing. You can control who gets what type of information and you can change it at any time.
It’s an …read more

As much I talk about having a will and being prepared around here, there’s still plenty I don’t quite understand.
The term “estate planning” is still kind of nebulous to me and sounds like something people with lot of money and assets have to worry about, but, indeed, us regular people need to consider estate planning, too.
Estate Planning for Everyone from Nolo.com really breaks down the process is east to understand terms and is a great checklist of what you need to consider (note: legal information is not legal advice) to be prepared in the event of death.

A group of high schoolers in Georgia has answered, “Who’s going to take care of the elderly who have no one?”
After interviewing 74 year old Sammy Green, it became apparent that he was wondering what was going to happen to him after he died:
He told the teenagers he most likely would be cremated since he had no money and no kin to bury him as he had buried his parents. And he believed cremation would doom him to an eternity in hell. He said being buried in a pine box was all that could redeem him.
The teenagers were taken with …read more

Lots going on here at Casa Sandwich, sorry to be scarce.
My uncle (OK, his remains) arrived via the United States Postal Service, and, I’ve been working for a couple of days to find a priest to preside at the interment.
My uncle wasn’t Catholic, but, my dad and I are, and, it seems to be very important to my dad that a priest rather than a deacon perform the service. However, this has been easier said than done. We will probably have to go with a deacon, and, even though the one who will likely be doing it is a …read more

I have said before that one of the greatest gifts from my parents was their planning ahead for health care and financial decisions that must be faced as they get older.
I feel like I say it over and over, and, I realize there’s literature everywhere about how hard it is to talk about these things, but, as I have learned, it’s invaluable not only to have Advance Directives in place, but, to actually talk about the specifics of your or your parents’ wishes.
It really is hard to talk about, I know. I had to ask my mother directly the details …read more