My husband was a pack rat. He was an organized pack rat, with an elaborate system of files that I didn't understand. Had I not pitched a fit before he went into the hospital for a stem cell transplant for his leukemia, I might have spent months searching for his will, his life insurance policy, the title to his car, his business papers and everything else I needed to know after his death. Even then, I still spent months going through his files, filling my recycling bin and refilling papers I thought I should keep. I decided this would not happen to my children after I die. I assembled all my important papers plus burial plot information, people to call, passwords, funeral plans, safe deposit box key and whatever else I thought my children might need to lay their hands on immediately. Then I bought a little kit, which I labeled When the Time Comes and put it in my study. My son and daughter know exactly where it is and what's in it.
I think this is a good thing to do, after you lose a spouse or when both of you are still healthy and death is some vague event "in the future." Life is fragile. You never know when you will need those papers, so keep them handy and available to those who will need them.
Take care, and I hope you'll stop by next Thursday for Tip#6.
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