When I'm Gone: Practical Notes for Those You Leave Behind

Preparation for loved ones for when you are just not there.

The success of this book--with 80,000 sold--speaks to the aging population and the increase in related activities, such as writing wills, advance directives (living wills), and preplanning funerals.

But When I'm Gone has also proven popular for its practicality. With the information recorded in the book, a prolonged absence or sudden illness is no longer a complication for those left behind. They may need important information like banking details, house and car maintenance records, PIN numbers, the location of keys, codes, phone numbers, addresses and so much more.

Elegantly designed and tastefully illustrated, When I'm Gone is a fill-in record book and a resource manual to better handle all the little details of life when someone is absent, for whatever reason. The book provides a place to give instructions concerning the issues we think of first--e.g., legal, financial--but also all the day-to-day details of the household and the personal notes we never get around to writing.

The book includes useful information and space to write in instructions on where to locate key contacts and essential documents, such as wills, powers of attorney, medical care directives, and living wills.

Important matters may include:

• Insurance, lawyers, bank, investment and pension details, deeds and mortgages
• Funeral arrangements and last wishes
• Setting up trusts and choosing guardians
• Care of pets
• Maintenance of homes and vehicles
• Access to and operation of computers
• Instructions for favorite belongings.

Everyone wants to keep better track of their records and Kathleen Fraser has designed the perfect way to do so with as little effort as possible. Anyone left behind, whether a housesitter or an executor, would be grateful to find it in a handy place.

Kathleen Fraser is an editor, author, wife, mother, daughter, aunt and oldest sister, and she feels responsible for almost everyone in her family. She lives in Mississauga, Ontario.