{"id":2443805,"date":"2019-05-06T08:10:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T14:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=305326"},"modified":"2019-05-06T08:10:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T14:10:57","slug":"do-you-have-a-will-or-end-of-life-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/do-you-have-a-will-or-end-of-life-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have a will or end-of-life plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Members of the team assembled by Pathfinders to provide end-of-life planning expertise. From left, Stefan Reveal (banking), Jeanne Doremus (trust\/estate attorney), Mary Ryerson (banking), Sally Potvin (former CPA\/accounting expertise) and Allison Daily (grief counseling).<\/strong>
Photo by Austin Colbert<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When a loved one dies, surviving family members or loved ones must sift through personal effects and financial affairs as they also try to cope with the loss. The experience is often devastating, and for surviving family members and friends that are given the task to distribute an estate without a will or other documents to guide them through the process, it can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Allison Daily has been supporting the Roaring Fork Valley with counseling and other grief services through Pathfinders, a nonprofit she presently leads to help those suffering from cancer or other chronic illness, grief and loss.<\/p>\n

Recently, Pathfinders has helped support the families of people who have died unexpectedly as they navigate the legal complexities that follow death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked with four women who had lost their husbands suddenly,\u201d Daily said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know what to do first; didn\u2019t know where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daily decided to assemble a team of experts \u2014 financial planners, an accountant and an estate attorney \u2014 to help the community with end-of-life planning. Each expert works for the client, bringing their specific training and experience to address every complexity associated with the process.<\/p>\n

Regardless of a person\u2019s wealth, Daily said it\u2019s essential to create an end-of-life plan long before you think you need one.<\/p>\n

Importance of an end-of-life plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is important that you have a plan when you die which may include important issues such as who will be the guardian and fiduciary for your children if both parents should die, who is in charge of distributing your assets and who will receive your estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s best to create this plan when you are healthy as it usually reflects your true intentions,\u201d said Aspen Trust and Estate Attorney Jeanne Doremus, who is part of the Pathfinders team.<\/p>\n

Unintended fiduciaries and\/or beneficiaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

When thinking about end-of-life planning, Doremus said a will is a great place to start. It allows you to name who you would prefer to serve as a personal representative (called executor in other states), who will be the beneficiaries of your estate.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWills are important as they dictate what you want to have happen and when anyone dies without a will, Colorado law essentially writes the  person\u2019s will for them through a set of statutes \u2014 and there are often unintended beneficiaries or consequences for your loved ones,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another important task is to make sure all assets that have beneficiary designations are reviewed and accurately reflect who you want as your beneficiary. Life can change and it is not unusual to have unintended beneficiaries remain as beneficiaries of your assets, Doremus said.<\/p>\n

The right legal documents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regardless of a person\u2019s assets \u2014 you could have millions or a few hundred bucks; multiple properties or none at all; own a business or be unemployed \u2014 a will outlines the deceased person\u2019s final wishes.<\/p>\n

Pathfinders wanted to create this checklist to help educate the community about the importance of these documents, and Alpine Legal Services is an important resource that can help those who cannot afford an attorney to prepare these documents. Call 970-945-8858 to see if you qualify for free legal services.<\/p>\n

There are other documents \u2014 for example, financial and medical powers of attorney, living wills, advance health care directives \u2014 which are all important. These legal documents reflect your choice upon death and during your lifetime, and will provide power to those who can speak for you,  regarding medical and financial issues, when you can\u2019t speak for yourself.<\/p>\n

A road map of important directions<\/strong><\/p>\n

What about information that isn\u2019t necessarily legal in nature but still important? A road map of all important things someone should know when they are in charge of handling the estate should include a simple list of instructions about where to find things.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a safety deposit box? Where\u2019s the key? Do you have a safe that contains all of your important legal documents? What\u2019s the combination? What accounts do you have? What are your passwords? Do you have life insurance?\u201d Doremus said.<\/p>\n

This information should be updated on a regular basis and should who you want to receive your personal items such as jewelry, clothing and other things. This information is a gift to those that will be in charge of this task.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt empowers you now to know what your choices are and make decisions ahead of time for yourself and your family,\u201d said Danielle Howard, a certified financial planner in Basalt who is part of the Pathfinders team. \u201cConversations and communication are key to keeping the transition through this difficult time of life as smooth as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people choose to write a letter to their children outlining what they want, which can help prevent guesswork or arguments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou make an end-of-life plan for the love of your family,\u201d Daily said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to make their lives easier and help them in their own grieving process. When loved ones have to spend a lot of time figuring out the estate issues, their grief is put to the side for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the team assembled by Pathfinders to provide end-of-life planning expertise. From left, Stefan Reveal (banking), Jeanne Doremus (trust\/estate attorney), Mary Ryerson (banking), Sally Potvin (former CPA\/accounting expertise) and Allison Daily (grief counseling).Photo by Austin Colbert When a loved one dies, surviving family members or loved ones must sift through personal effects and financial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 18:25:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}