Estate Planning Is Important, Not Urgent—An Update on My Dad

I have often said that estate planning is important, but is not urgent—at least until it’s too late. We often take much for granted, especially our health.

Four weeks ago, my father, who lives in Tucson and was in better shape physically than me, fainted while standing and talking to others at a potluck pool party. There was no sign of a stroke or heart attack.

Unfortunately, on his fall, the back of his head hit the concrete. Hard. He suffered bleeding and swelling in the frontal lobe of his brain. He spent several days in the ICU and on the hospital floor, and then a couple of weeks at Health South for rehab. He came home a week ago.

His long-term memory was not affected. His short-term memory was damaged at first, but has mostly come back. The difficult part has been multitasking, which he cannot do, and processing, which is now significantly slower. He is not cleared to drive, though he hopes that will change soon.

This has been very tough on my mother, but she has handled it well. We are hopeful he will recover, but it will take time.

My dad’s injury could have been much worse. He might have never recovered. We are lucky.

Taking care of estate planning is not something we do for pleasure. Most people put it off because it’s easier to avoid it. Unfortunately, at some point, it will be too late.

Sometimes, bad things happen to good people. If you know someone who has been putting off their estate planning, please feel free to share this story with them or suggest that they contact our office. Adversity hits us all. It’s just a matter of when.