Introducing Legal Matters with Rosiee Magoo

MyGoodbye.com is pleased to introduce guest blogger Rosiee Magoo.

As a lawyer who has practiced both in England and the U.S., she brings a focused passion to assisting families regarding end of life legal matters including Estate Planning, Probate, Guardianship and Immigration.  

Rosiee graduated from the United Kingdom and was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Law and subsequently earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, London.  She was admitted to the New York Bar in 2001 and Texas Bar in 2012.  Look for Rosiee’s blog entries the second Wednesday of every month covering the important legal issues each of us must face.

Estate Planning

What is Estate Planning? Most people think that you need to have millions to make an Estate Plan. That’s not true. An Estate Plan is a number of documents that are drawn up to control what happens to your hard earned money at your death and or disability.

An Estate Plan includes all of the documents below and maybe more:

1.    Last Will and Testament;
2.    Statutory Durable Power of Attorney;
3.    Medical Power of Attorney;
4.     HIPPA Release;
5.      Declaration of Guardian of Self 
6.      Declaration of Guardian for Minor Children;
7.      Directive to Physicians; 
8.       Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains.

To make a Will you will need to decide on the following:

1.      Decide what property to include in your will, list your significant assets; 
2.       Decide who will inherit your property;
3.      Choose an executor to handle your estate;
4.     Choose a guardian for your children;
5.      Choose someone to manage children’s property.

This is just an outline of what you need to consider for an Estate Plan. I will write in detail about many of these and other End of Life issues in the future including how to avoid a Guardianship. If you have any questions or topics you wish to be covered please let me know.

Rosiee Magoo

Attorney At Law

attorneymagoo@gmail.com

210-313-9836

 Rosiee’s motto is “Courteous, Expedient & Professional Service”, because her clients deserve it.

Burial or Cremation?

It’s your choice.  That is, if you make the decision before your death, and record it somewhere accessible to those who will be responsible for carrying out your wishes after.  Because this is a significant decision, it is important to consider all the factors involved.  First, we will describe the requirements, list the benefits and finally the detriments for either choice.

Requirements

Burial  Requires the services of a funeral home and cemetery.  Choices to be made with the funeral home include casket type, the outer container—either a grave box or a vault, embalming and funeral service arrangements.  Decisions for the cemetery include plot or mausoleum selection, interment (and endowment care, opening and closing of grave, memorial marker inscription and setting.)  If the deceased is to be buried in another city or state, additional arrangements need to be made in regard to transportation.

Cremation An authorization form must be signed in order to cremate. An individual should sign this as part of a preplanning process. Otherwise, a spouse of the deceased may authorize.  If there is no spouse, then all children or both living parents or all siblings must sign on your behalf.  Ashes will be released to the person assigned to receive them.  They may be placed in a container, scattered in a suitable place, placed in a niche, crypt or buried.  They also may be personally transported to another location or sent through USPS standard shipping.

Benefits

Burial Traditionally, burial has been the standard practice. Families have the benefit of placing their loved ones in a designated area near other family members’ remains in a particular cemetery.  A grave marks a point of connection between the deceased and his survivors.  Some religions espouse burial as the appropriate choice. 

Cremation Gaining in popularity due to cost factors, ease of transportation of remains and the visible neglect of older cemeteries, cremations are expected to make up 50% of services by 2020. 

Detriments

Burial Our mobile society makes it less likely that a person will die in the same city they were born in.  Cemetery plots, if not already owned, are becoming harder to come by. The costs associated with a traditional burial have sky rocketed.  The average funeral costs over $8000. 

Cremation The necessity to have signed documents in place in order for cremation to occur may delay cremation.  State laws require the refrigeration of a body until cremation can occur which means additional expense for the family if signatures need to be gathered.  Because there is no cemetery plot to visit, it can be important to provide someplace where friends and family can remember their loved one, i.e. an online memorial, a tree planted in their honor or a park bench at a favorite spot are all possibilities.In addition, some religious groups are opposed to cremation.*

*http://www.religioustolerance.org/crematio1.htm

MyGoodbye.com allows you to register your preferences in the privacy of your own home, providing a guide for your end of life needs. 

A Goodbye as Unique as You Are

An older friend recently bemoaned the new automatic toilets installed at the airport.  “I’m beginning to think that there is no part of my destiny I can control!” She muttered.

And while that is true for much of our experience on this earth, and even our exit from it, there are some places where our pro active influence can make a difference. Planning end of life arrangements is a certain way to make your final statement.  Sadly, most of time this position is abdicated by ignoring its definite reality. 

We will all die sometime.  And for most, that moment will come upon us as a surprise, leaving our loved ones to scramble in their shock and grief trying to “put words in our lifeless mouths” to capture the essence of a last goodbye.  A funeral or memorial service should be a farewell that gives all involved the ability to convey their hearts.

This is especially true of the deceased--not through some eerie seance-- but by thoughtful advanced planning which has put in place expressed thoughts and desires which can be carried out at death.

“You only get one shot at a funeral,” the sound technician from a large church quipped, having provided his expertise for hundreds of services over the years, and having witnessed more than he preferred to count done poorly.

The characteristics of the average funeral: a very short schedule under extreme duress, participants who must reschedule their calendar, obtain travel arrangements, and plan a ceremony sensitive to other family members, coordinating with a funeral home and local congregation create challenges that require the expertise of an air traffic controller to run smoothly.   So it should be no surprise that invited speakers are overlooked, musicians miss their cue and family members and friends not properly seated carry hurt feelings long past the probate of the will.

How different this scenario is when a plan has been put in place that addresses these issues ahead of time. Sid Holmgren, a very quick and clever 92 year young friend announced to her children recently “I want to be in control of my funeral.”  And she wisely is taking steps to do just that.

How do you guarantee your final goodbye accurately translates your life message?

Bonjour MyGoodbye, giving individuals the tools and resources to craft their farewell their way.   

To discover how you can plan for your loved one's Goodbye of a lifetime, find us at www.MyGoodbye.com