SubscribeDon’t procrastinate, take care of your will
For a while now, I’ve put off updating my will, always finding something else to do. You know what I mean. There’s the demands of a job, of being a parent. There are holidays to prepare for, birthday parties to arrange, friends to meet over dinner, bathrooms to clean. Everything, it seems, takes priority over the quiet time we ought to set aside to deal with our last wishes. We like to think we have plenty of time.
My sisters and I years ago nudged our mother to take care of her will and related issues. She did. There is a profound comfort in knowing that she has made decisions about how she wants to leave a legacy here on earth and that we won’t have to guess. Too many of us have not taken any steps to make sure we don’t leave our families cleaning up our mess.
I have a will, but it is old and needs changes. I’ve had false starts in making revisions, easily letting other things pull me away from the task. My procrastination is over. I’ve met with a lawyer to start the process of putting together an estate plan and expect to have everything finished in a few weeks. (An estate plan includes a will, power of attorney, living will or health-care proxy and a trust, if needed.)
I’m on a mission these days to convince my friends, and others, to take care of their business too. I talked to six friends over the past week and all of them, except one, told me they do not have a will or estate plan. The one who does says it needs to be updated. There are plenty of resources on the internet and most lawyers offer free consultations.
As a mom of the Sandwich Generation, I realized that I wasn’t helping my mother or daughter by hiding from the discomfort of developing an estate plan. My daughter now won’t be left asking why I didn’t do it. My mother has a better advisor, who will be encouraging her to make sure she has left nothing undecided.
I urge you to do the same.
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I am a member of the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer raising a teenage daughter and dealing with the needs of an aging mother. I am a veteran journalist, having worked for more than three decades as a reporter and editor. Mostly recently, I was an editor with the Metro section of The Washington Post.
