Who Will Take Care of Things after You’re Gone?
Cremation is one of the cremation services offered in Solvay, NY, but there are many decisions that we should think about while we’re still on this side of death and cremation. A big area of decision is who will take care of things after you’re gone.
While this seems like an easy decision to make, in reality it is not. There are many areas of our lives that we don’t think about because we’re so used to doing them and they’re so integrated in our daily routines. But if we had to turn them over to somebody else, what would they be required to do?
It’s interesting that we do this in other areas of our lives quite well. For example, if we’re going on vacation for two weeks, we make sure our work responsibilities are taking care of (including automatic email replies that say we’re out of the office and that give an alternate contact in our absence), we make sure our pets are cared for, we make sure mail and newspapers are held or stopped temporarily, and we make sure that any bills that are due or paid.
But when it comes to death, we don’t always do such a thorough job of making sure everything and everyone is taking care of. Here are a few things that we should think about being attended to after we die.
Most of us have a rich digital life. We have email accounts, we have online shopping accounts, and we have online financial accounts. We have smart phones. We have laptops and notebooks. We have digital services, like Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
Most of our digital life is protected by usernames and passwords. Some of it is protected by digital fingerprints (this is when you use your unique fingerprint to unlock a device). When we die, who is going to be able to access those accounts, either to delete them or to use them (such as financial accounts)? If you’ve used your fingerprint as the access to some of your digital devices, without an alternative username and/or password, then nobody is going to be able to access those devices after you die.
It’s a good idea to create a digital will. What this does is create a master worksheet with all your digital accounts (include URL link), usernames, and passwords. Typically, the executor of your will would be the person who would need to have this digital will.
Who will take care of your children, if they are still minors, after you die? Some people choose godparents for their children, but typically this is an honorary designation and not a commitment to be legal guardians for the children if the parents die. If you have young children, this is a question that you need to ask and answer.
Who will take care of your pets after you die? Leaving pets behind without any place for them to go often presents a quandary for family members as to what to do with them. Now is the time to ask friends and family members whether they would be willing to take care of one or all of your pets after you die.
If you’d like to know more about cremation services in Solvay, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help. You can visit us at our funeral home at 2601 Milton Ave., Solvay, NY 13209, or you can call us today at (315) 468-2431.
