An online safe deposit box for your important files

What would your family do tomorrow...
if you were incapacitated by a major accident today?

Don’t lose control of your life by doing nothing...

Without proper preparation the courts will make decisions about your life based on local and federal laws. What are the consequences of not being prepared?

Your end-of-life wishes will not be carried out... Your family or worse, the courts, will make decisions about medical treatment, life-prolonging measures, and organ donation.

Your family may have to petition the courts to become involved with the decision making process... Different family members may have different views regarding politics, religion, and spiritual beliefs which can result in family conflicts and possibly litigation. Your family could be permanently divided without direction about the decision making process.

Your financial well being will be put at risk... Without a power of attorney, your finances will be inaccessible to family members. Unpaid bills can result in bad credit, default, or foreclosure. The IRS can seize property to collect back taxes. A home that appears abandoned is a prime target for burglars and thieves.

If your estate documents can not be found when needed then it is as if these documents never existed... Even if you properly prepared an estate plan, it will prove useless if the appropriate individuals cannot locate your documents when needed. Papers tend to get lost over time. Natural disasters can destroy everything. Even a safe deposit box could be sealed after your death. Without a power of attorney, health care professionals will not talk to your family no matter what relation they are to you.

By taking a proactive approach you help your family to avoid the unnecessary pain and anguish that comes from not being prepared...

Prepare your medical directives... Seek out a professional advisor who specializes in estate planning. Your advisor should be certified by an accredited organization. It is also advisable to have a living will, a financial power of attorney, and a health care power of attorney in case you are incapacitated. Your estate planner will be able to determine the appropriate set of documents for you.

Make advanced arrangements for your incapacity... There are many advantages to purchasing long-term care insurance products in advance including receiving care at home or in a private room in an assisted living facility. This insurance covers care generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Many individuals also choose to purchase homes in retirement communities that have direct access to assisted living and nursing homes.

Select a set of trustworthy individuals to carry out your end-of-life wishes... A health care agent is a person you choose in advance to make health care decisions for you in the event that you become unable to do so. Candidates might include family members, friends, or co-workers. After confirming that these persons are willing to carry out your end-of-life wishes you need to leave them with a written set of instructions designating what duties need to be fulfilled.

Create a list of persons whom you want notified in case of incapacity, along with their contact information... The list of persons can include family members, friends, attorneys, financial advisors, tax advisors, executors, guardians, health care agents, attorneys-in-fact, trustees, and representative payees. Estate++ helps you to create this list by indicating which of these individuals should be notified in case of your incapacity.

Make your medical directives available to the appropriate persons or institutions... If your medical directives can not be found when needed then it is as if these documents never existed. Overlooking this most important task can cause your end-of-life wishes to fail. With Estate++ scanned copies of your legal documents can be uploaded and downloaded as needed. Estate++ employs a unique collaboration feature that allows you to share documents with others. You can create read-only users for executors, health care agents, and key family members that can read your inventory and estate documents. You can also create read-only users for medical professionals to read medical directives only. You can even create an upload-only user for your estate planner to upload the latest copies of your medical directives directly into your estate.

Summarize your arrangements into a single document... Write out a short description of what tasks you assigned and who you assigned them to. This will help you recall what needs to be done and who will do it. With Estate++, all information recorded about an estate is collected into a single PDF, with just the click of a mouse. This PDF can be printed or transmitted electronically through email.

Periodically review and revise your plans... If one of the persons whom you delegated a task to is no longer able to, or you no longer want them to, carry out their assigned task then you will need to revise your plans. Reminding persons who you assigned tasks to periodically would probably also be advisable. Estate++ makes it easy for you to keep your information current. Information is stored in a secure, remote location protected from computer crashes, theft, and natural disasters. Your information is always available, through the Internet, in any situation, at any time, anywhere in the world.