A few years ago my Mom went into the hospital for surgery. She wasn’t young, but we fully expected her to come home again. The surgeon had performed this procedure hundreds of times and had told her he’d never lost a patient doing it. That was about to change.

The surgery went very well, or so we’d thought. But shortly afterward, Mom was in terrible pain, and within hours she was septic. The skilled surgeon had nicked her bowel. Just a tiny 2mm nick. That’s all it took.

We don’t like to think about how fragile it is… but life can change in an instant.

When a family member passes away there’s a lot of really tough choices to be made… right now. There’s no putting it off until you can handle it emotionally. And unless you’ve had extensive talks about dying with the person who’s left you, you probably won’t know how to make all those decisions.

• Who needs to be informed/invited to the funeral? Do you have ALL their names and phone numbers?

• Do you know what they want to be buried in? Would they like to be cremated instead? Do they want their ashes sprinkled somewhere?

• What are their funeral wishes? What songs they would like played?

• Where are the keys to their home? The mailbox? The safe deposit box? The trunk in the attic?

• What does their beloved pet eat? Do you know how to take care of it? Does it require medicine or veterinary care?

• What is the password to their phone? Their social media accounts? Their banking logins?

• Do you know who to call to have their utilities disconnected? Do you have their account numbers?

• Do they owe anyone money?

• Have they hidden money somewhere in their home? Do they have jewelry or other precious items stashed away in secret?

These are the kinds of things you need to know but are rarely included in a will. A will will tell you what you inherit but not where to find it or what to do with it.

After Mom died I realized there was so much I didn’t know. And even though we had talked about it once or twice, I was still completely unprepared. Ultimately, I based a lot of decisions on guesswork.

It took months trying to sort it all out.

Losing someone you love is hard. Having to spend weeks or months dealing with the aftermath is a trauma in itself.

I don’t want anyone to unprepared like I was. My Mom’s death made me think a lot about the process of getting through it all. That’s why I created this book:

Everything You Need to Know When I’m Gone is a simple and easy to use, fill-in-the-blank planning guide. This 52 page booklet has room for all of the most important things that your family and friends will need to know in the event of your death. It is intended to relieve the burden from family members who would otherwise have to gather this information themselves during their time of grief. There is also space for your own personal reflections and messages.

• personal details
• financial information
• account numbers
• internet logins and passwords
• list of contacts
• arrangements for your remains and funeral wishes
• instructions for dependents, pets and belongings
• practical information like where you keep your records and keys
• messages for friends and family
• final thoughts

At 52 pages, this planner is just the right length to not be overwhelming for the person filling it out, or for the reader. It is designed to contain just the right amount of space for the needs of the average person with a little extra space for anything the book may have missed. And it’s small enough to be kept in an envelope with your will.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Sold exclusively on Amazon.