Before You Depart:
Preparing For The Unexpected

It’s important to have all of your important information in one place, but don’t forget to update it regularly.

Outdated information is pretty much useless to your survivors.

When you change insurance agents, or get new passwords, or buy a new riding lawn mower, or do pretty much anything that someone you ‘leave behind’ will have to deal with, be sure you update these things here at YouDeparted.

If you are the only person in your household who knows how to “program” the furnace, leave directions.

If you switch insurance agencies, please be sure that someone knows.

If you wish to leave a personal message, to be given to your loved ones after your death, YouDeparted is the place for that, too.

Your survivors will appreciate having a list of your credit cards, too.

Stop and think for a moment: if you were one of the survivors, what sort of things would you need to know, in order to complete the wishes, requests, and business of the departed?

Wouldn’t it start with knowing what those wishes, requests, and business were? And WHERE to find them?

Right here. YouDeparted. Your loved ones will really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Don’t think for a minute that your survivors are going to automatically know your wishes about organ donation! You might think that because you’ve got it checked on your driver’s license, or because you’re carrying a donor card in your wallet, that after your death someone, somewhere, will have a new and better life because of your kidney or retina or liver. Most of the time, the deceased’s wallet or purse isn’t opened and gone through until after death, and then it’s too late.

If you want to donate your organs after your death, you’ve got to tell someone BEFORE you die. How will your survivors know your wishes if you don’t tell them? After you TELL them, be sure you put it in writing; this is more insurance that your wishes will be considered. Hospitals are required to consult the next of kin before removing organs, and if your family knows you wanted to be a donor, it makes it easier for them to give their consent. Unfortunately, even if you’ve got it in writing, and your family knows your wishes, your survivors can override those wishes and refuse to allow the donation after your death. All the more reason to have an executor who will do your bidding even after you are dead!

A signed donor card or driver’s license provides proof to your family that you wanted to be a donor, but these alone are not legally binding. Even if you have signed a donor registry, that will not guarantee anything. A registry isn’t legally binding, either.

The best way to ensure that your wishes are carried out is to tell your family that you want to be a donor, to put it in writing, both in your will AND separately, and to appoint an executor who will carry out your wishes..

If you are fairly certain that your family will not allow the hospital to harvest your organs, you can assign durable power of attorney to someone who you know will abide by your wishes. A lawyer can help you prepare this document. Be sure it’s someone who will definitely abide by your decisions and your wishes, and be sure you put the documentation where this person can get it BEFORE you are dead.

I suggest that you file it all right here at YouDeparted.

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Have you given any thought to what you want to be wearing for everybody’s last sight of you? Most of the time, the deceased is all dressed up, you know.

The thing is, not everybody is best known for being all dressed up. I know I’m not.

If you have any strong ideas about what you’d like to be wearing for that last public appearance, make sure you make those preferences known to your family and to the funeral home. Otherwise, gentlemen, you’ll be wearing that three-piece suit you’ve always hated, and ladies, you’ll be wearing that hideous dress you wore to your niece’s wedding.

Most of the time, people are wearing a hospital gown when they get to the mortuary, so naturally the morticians call the family and request that something with a little more style and coverage be brought in. If there’s a little number you really want to wear for this occasion, be sure that your survivors know about it.

This request, and all your other requests, as well as all of your legalities and policies and passwords, etc, can be stored right here at YouDeparted.

That darn suit/dress was always too hot and itchy, and you never felt like YOU in it. If you’d rather be buried/cremated in your overalls or your bikini or your comfy ol’ jeans and that Pink Floyd t-shirt with the autographs on it, speak out and tell somebody.

And while you’re at it, make your requests known about your hair, your makeup, and those hideous clumps of flowers somebody always plops down right on top of the casket, too. And make sure somebody is standing there guarding against such things, too. If you don’t make your wishes known, you’ll be lying there in that suit you always hated, with a big pile of those creepy white lilies on your chest.

Tell somebody! And then make it official by putting your wishes in writing and storing them with us, right here at YouDeparted.

Sometimes, a little humor is just. . . . necessary.

Click HERE.   We can all use a laugh, you know.

Remember, though, that if “My Will” isn’t where your survivors can find it, it’s as though you never made one at all.

Get that will made, and file it right here at YouDeparted, along with all of the other very necessary and important documents your survivors will need.

And now, play that video again, and this time, sing along!

It’s important that we all keep accurate and careful records of all of our important papers, and it’s equally important that we designate someone to be in charge of those important papers.

Even people who are careful about their accounting will not always know exactly where and how to put their hands on a specific paper, policy, document, or password. Think how difficult it could be for the survivors to find these things!

That’s why a service such as YouDeparted is so important. You don’t want to post a list of all of your assets and passwords and paperwork in a public place for all the world to see. You don’t even want such a list lying around on your desk!

But putting all of your important information on YouDeparted is safer than a safe! And once you’re done so, and designated someone to be in charge of it all, you can sit back and rest assured (or in peace, as the case may be) knowing that everything your survivors need is all in one safe place.

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