Journal
Short, specific answers to the questions people search for at the worst possible time. Grouped by what you are dealing with.
After a death
- What to do in the first 72 hours after a deathThe five things that are genuinely time-sensitive, the popular advice that causes harm if you follow it this week, and why calling 911 can be the wrong call.
- How to get a death certificateWho is allowed to request a certified copy, where to order it, what it costs in your state, and why the funeral home's price may not be the state's price.
- How many death certificates do I need?A working number, and the list of institutions that require an original rather than a copy.
- How to notify Social Security of a deathWho reports it, which payment has to go back and which one does not, and the $255 rule most families get wrong.
- Social Security survivor benefitsWho qualifies and for how much, the strategy the 2015 law left intact for widows only, and why nobody from Social Security is going to call you.
- Small estate affidavitWhat it can move, what it almost never moves, why "no court involved" is only true in some states, and the liability you take on by signing.
Documents and decisions
- Last will and testamentWhat a will controls, the four things it does not, and why the document that decides your funeral is usually a different one entirely.
- Living trust vs willWhat each document does, why the real cost of probate depends entirely on your state, and the mortgage rule that surprises people in California.
- Payable on death vs willThe form at the bank outranks the will, and four ways that cuts against you, including the divorce that does not undo a 401(k) form.
- Durable power of attorneyWhat a durable financial power of attorney covers, why springing versions stall in a crisis, and the exact moment the authority ends.
- Does power of attorney end at death?It ends the instant the person dies. What that leaves nobody able to do, the gap before an executor exists, and the one state where the healthcare agent runs the funeral.
- Medical power of attorney formWhy there is no valid-in-all-50-states form, where to get your state's free one, and the witness rules that quietly void a downloaded document.
- Advance directive and healthcare proxyWhat the advance healthcare directive and the healthcare proxy each do, why a DNR and a POLST are different things, and the three ways these documents fail.
- POLST formWhy paramedics can act on this and not on your advance directive, who it is actually for, and the reason a healthy adult should not have one.
- Five Wishes documentWhat the publisher claims about legal validity, the three different versions of that claim on its own websites, and the free state form that does the legal work.
Digital life
- Digital legacy and password accessThe setting inside the app outranks your will. What Apple, Google, and Facebook actually hand over, and why a password in a binder is the weakest option.
- Facebook memorialized accountWhat memorializing does and cannot undo, the setting that legally outranks your will, and the photos a legacy contact still will not be able to save.
Funeral and burial
- What is the FTC Funeral Rule?The federal rights you have at a funeral home, the four places the rule does not reach, including cemeteries, and why no funeral home has to post a price online.
- How to preplan a funeralThe decisions that cost nothing, the itemized list federal law entitles you to, and why the money question comes last.
- Cremation vs burial costWhy the two figures everyone quotes are not a comparison, the cemetery costs missing from both, and the two price-list lines that make the question answerable.
- Direct cremation costWhy no honest national price exists, the one line on the price list that settles it, and the eight questions that make three quotes comparable.
- Who can authorize cremationThe claim that all the children have to agree is false in most states. The real priority ladder, what the signer personally warrants, and why one objecting sibling stops it anyway.
- Prepaid cremation plansWhere your money actually goes, why "guaranteed" describes the price and not the funds, and the clause that lets one relative override everything you paid for.
- Veteran burial benefitsWhat a VA national cemetery provides at no cost, what the burial allowance actually reimburses, and the filing deadline that has two exceptions worth knowing.
- Burial plots for saleWhat you are actually buying, the charges that are not in the asking price, and the eleven questions to ask the cemetery before you pay anyone.
- Cemetery plot pricesWhat a plot costs is the smallest part of the bill. The four charges that come after it, and the questions that get you a real total.
- Cemetery opening and closing costsThe fee that is not sold with the plot, what six real cemeteries actually charge, and the surcharge that more than doubles the price on a Sunday.
- How to sell a cemetery plotYou probably do not own the land. What you can actually transfer, the state rules that can forbid a private sale outright, and how to price a plot that will move.
Helping a parent
- How to talk to aging parents about plansAsk about documents, not about dying. Openings that work, the two settings that reliably fail, and what you can still do with a refusal.
- Caregiver fatigueThe statistic every article gets wrong, why HIPAA does not mention you at all, and the signature that is free this month and costs a court case later.