Re: Emergency Binder - does this sound macabre? - Page 5

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

@Bird mama wrote:
You know what else is a good idea to have documented? This has nothing to do with something catastrophic or final. More like nice to have on hand.

Prescription drugs and dosing information per person. If I had a dollar for every time I was asked what medication my husband was on when he needed to be hospitalized. Honest to Pete, intake would ask, the nurse would then ask, the doctor would ask.

I'd just hand out copies of the word document (the list wasn't THAT long) to each person and say, I'm not repeating myself - add this to the file.

A million likes to this. Very important. I was taking my dad to the dr last year, and his meds were changing often. One dr. would always want a list. One time, we forgot that list. I can tell you that dr wasn't very happy. We never forgot it again.

yasushi · ‎03-10-2010

And please don't forget about pets! Names, ages, descriptions (helpful in a multi-pet household), medications & dosages, Veterinarian, etc. If multiple pets, note who gets along (or doesn't) with other family pets, who does/doesn't like children, other dogs/cats/etc. Please, please make arrangements in advance of who will take them and make sure that person knows and has agreed!

I used to volunteer at our local shelter and with animal rescue groups. It was astonishing and so heartbreaking how many pets ended up homeless when their owner became incapacitated or died.

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

@yasushi wrote:
And please don't forget about pets! Names, ages, medications & dosages, Veterinarian, etc. If multiple pets, note who gets along (or doesn't) with other family pets, who does/doesn't like children, other dogs/cats/etc. Please, please make arrangements in advance of who will take them and make sure that person knows and has agreed!
I used to volunteer at our local shelter and with animal rescue groups. It was astonishing and so heartbreaking how many pets ended up homeless when their owner became incapacitated or died.

Another great suggestion! Thank you!

My son would surely keep my two kitties, but he's never been the one to take them to the vet - that kind of information would be very important.

~ house cat ~

gidgetgh · ‎03-09-2010

My dad had a three ring binder, labeled “Heirs Affairs”. He always told my sister and me that if anything ever happened to him or my mom, to get the book.

When he had a brain bleed in 2015, once we got him admitted to the hospital, my husband and I went back to their condo at 2:30 in the morning and got the checkbooks, other important things and the Heirs Affair Book.

My dad passed away in July 2016 and I got out the book and everything I needed to settle the estate was right there, including a partially written obituary. I was able to settle his estate, which was pretty complicated, confidently and pretty quickly. I had no questions. It was all spelled out for me.

Several years ago, I did our own version of the Heirs Affairs book. It’s a large pink three ring binder. We call if the “pink book”. Anything that anyone would need to know about settling our estate is right there in that book.

Anyone in our lives or even anyone on these these forums could get our pink book and they’d know exactly what to do in regards to our estate.

My husband and and I consider our pink book to be the single most important thing in our house.

Why is it, when I have a 50/50 guess at something, I'm always 100% wrong?

missy1 · ‎03-10-2010

sounds good

They would have to know the safe combo too.

Hoovermom · ‎03-19-2010

No, it doesn't sound macabre but needed for the surviving loved ones. DH has somewhat of a "binder" but after reading all of these suggestions, we both need to amend our folder.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

No, it sounds like a smart thinking but the idea of a physical binder is too archaic and risky for me. We scanned some documents and fowarded them to our girls. They have everything they might need in folders in the computers, should they ever need them. It's just a matter of "print" and go. Of course, we have a family attorney who has documents and financial information and our wills and would guide our girls. Honestly, the idea of keeping such sensitive documents in physical binder somewhere scares me to death.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@gidgetgh wrote:
My dad had a three ring binder, labeled “Heirs Affairs”. He always told my sister and me that if anything ever happened to him or my mom, to get the book.

When he had a brain bleed in 2015, once we got him admitted to the hospital, my husband and I went back to their condo at 2:30 in the morning and got the checkbooks, other important things and the Heirs Affair Book.

My dad passed away in July 2016 and I got out the book and everything I needed to settle the estate was right there, including a partially written obituary. I was able to settle his estate, which was pretty complicated, confidently and pretty quickly. I had no questions. It was all spelled out for me.

Several years ago, I did our own version of the Heirs Affairs book. It’s a large pink three ring binder. We call if the “pink book”. Anything that anyone would need to know about settling our estate is right there in that book.

Anyone in our lives or even anyone on these these forums could get our pink book and they’d know exactly what to do in regards to our estate.

My husband and and I consider our pink book to be the single most important thing in our house.

That sounds exactly like my Dad. Except he had a bleeding stroke and lost the use of his right side. He was in a nursing home for 12 years. So all record keeping ended when he went in the nursing home.

My Mom could not be bothered with that sort of thing. She was upset with my Dad for having a stroke and she was not about to do "his work". She gifted considerable amounts of money to my one brother. And she shredded all evidence. She shredded all bank statements, cancelled checks and the addendum to my parent's will listing all the money gifts to my one brother (their lawyer insisted on it).

When she needed money she would sell stocks but there was no record. She shredded it all. They died within 5 days of one another. Even though both were in a nursing home the last two years, I had to keep their house for another year. Just to try and find out what stocks they did own. The only way I found out what they owned was by getting statements. And some companies did not give dividends, so I would have to wait until I got a notice for the annual meeting.

I don't know how good a job I did. But I think the Emergency Binder is an excellent idea.

depglass · ‎03-10-2010

I gave DD a list of attorneys, deeds, etc. years ago. Of course she doesn't know where it is. She says Email it to her, emails are forever. So I will.