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Journal

The questions people ask first.

Long answers to the practical questions, written once and kept current. Rules differ by state and by property, so each article says where the difference lives.

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.Eleven minutesHow 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.Five minutesHow many death certificates do I need?A working number, and the list of institutions that require an original rather than a copy.Four minutesAfter-death checklist: who to notify and which accounts to closeAn ordered list for week one, month one, and the rest of the year, with a column for which institutions need a certified original and which take a photocopy.Eight minutesHow 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.Four minutesSocial 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.Six minutesSmall 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.Seven minutesWhat is probate and how long does it take?The court process for property that has nobody else to pass to. What actually causes the delay, and the checklist of assets that skip it entirely.Six minutesWhat happens to debt when someone dies?The estate pays what it can, and what it cannot pay usually goes unpaid. The situations where a family member is actually liable, and what to say when a collector calls.Six minutes

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.Eight minutesWhat happens if you die without a willThe state has already written one for you. Who inherits under it, why a blended family is the case it handles worst, and the person it leaves out entirely.Six minutesLiving 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.Five minutesPayable 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.Ten minutesWhat does an executor do? The first 90 daysYou can say no. What the job actually involves, the ninety-day clock most states put on the inventory, and why the fee is taxed differently than the inheritance.Seven minutesDurable power of attorneyWhat a durable financial power of attorney covers, why springing versions stall in a crisis, and the exact moment the authority ends.Four minutesDoes 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.Eight minutesMedical 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.Seven minutesHealthcare POA vs financial POA: why you need bothThe healthcare agent can pick the nursing home. The healthcare agent cannot pay for it. Where each document stops, and the federal benefit neither one reaches.Eight minutesAdvance 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.Five minutesHIPAA authorization form: how to let doctors talk to familyThe six elements a valid authorization needs, what HIPAA already allows without one, and which document unlocks which conversation.Seven minutesPOLST 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.Six minutesFive 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.Six minutes

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.Five minutesFacebook 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.Five minutes

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.Twelve minutesHow to preplan a funeralThe decisions that cost nothing, the itemized list federal law entitles you to, and why the money question comes last.Six minutesHow to write down your funeral wishesPutting them in the will is the common mistake, because the will is usually read after the funeral. What to write, who to name, and the formalities that give the document force.Five minutesCremation 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.Six minutesDirect 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.Six minutesWho 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.Ten minutesCan an unmarried partner make funeral decisions?In most states, not automatically, however long you lived together. Where partners appear on the priority ladder, where they do not, and the one document that fixes it.Six minutesHow to write an obituaryA fill-in structure, the facts to gather first, what print actually costs by the line, and who decides the "survived by" list when the family disagrees.Six minutesPrepaid 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.Nine minutesVeteran 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.Four minutesBurial 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.Seven minutesCemetery 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.Five minutesCemetery 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.Eight minutesHow 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.Six minutes

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.Five minutesWhat documents do aging parents need?Eight documents, what each one actually unlocks, and the specific thing that goes wrong when it is missing. The one to sign first is not the will.Nine minutesHow to get power of attorney for an elderly parentYou do not get power of attorney. Your parent gives it. What that changes about the conversation, the seven steps, the real costs, and the deadline the bank is under.Nine minutesParent has dementia and no power of attorney: guardianship vs conservatorshipA diagnosis is not the same as losing capacity, and the window is not always shut. What the court has to find, what the case costs, and the four arrangements that are not a court case.Eight minutesEmergency medical information sheet for a parentWhat the ER asks, in the order they ask it, and a one-page form you can fill in tonight. Plus the places it has to live so somebody can find it at 2 a.m.Six minutesPalliative care vs hospicePalliative care needs no six-month prognosis and does not require giving up treatment. The difference that gets people help years earlier, and the words to ask for it.Five minutesWhat does hospice actually provide? Is it 24/7?Services are available around the clock. A nurse in the house around the clock is a different thing, paid at a different rate, for a crisis. What a normal week looks like, and who does the rest.Seven minutesCaregiver 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.Eleven minutes

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