Your Estate ……Are You Ready to Die ?

• Post By: BMFORBES
• Date: March 9, 2019
• Category: My Thoughts
• Tags: estate planning living will

I believe that some people feel as though they will live forever , or at the very least don’t want to accept that when you are born the clock begins ticking. I met an old man once who at the time had to be about 80 years old. We crossed paths because he had his 18 wheeler and 2 Flat bed trailers parked next to mine at a parking yard where I kept my trucks. His truck was a Peterbilt. Peterbilt is considered to be the Cadillac of big trucks. It had been sitting there for at least a year that i know of before I ever saw him for the first time. Other drivers who park there had told me that he was an old guy who couldn’t drive anymore because no one would insure him to continue driving a commercial vehicle at his age. Jokingly, they told me that when he sees me, he will probably ask me to put him on with my company so he could be insured to get back on the road.

One sunny afternoon I was on the yard working on a truck when a car pulled up. It took the man what seemed like forever, to get out of the car. He was barely standing upright with his pants being held up and bunched together with a leather belt that would have almost wrapped around him twice. I spoke but didn’t bother him even though I was sure this was the guy that I heard all the stories about. He took his time getting over to the truck and after doing a quick visual inspection he climbed up into the cab of his truck. I heard the key come on with all the system check clicking and buzzing that takes place when you’re about to start a truck. The instant he hit the key that truck fired up like he had just shut it off 5 minutes ago which amazed me, knowing it had been sitting untouched for many, many months.

When he was done I walked over to him and said, ” Wow, that truck sounds great for having not been moved in a while.” It was like he had been waiting for me to engage him. He started in immediately saying that he had a little accident a couple of years ago and the insurance company shut him down, but he could still drive and was looking for someone to put him on so he could get back to work. All I could do was laugh, because I had been told this day was coming. I asked him, “why don’t you just hire a driver to operate the truck for you? He told me, “no one is going to drive that truck but him because drivers tear up equipment.” He wasn’t telling any lies.

It is very difficult to find good quality qualified drivers that will operate your equipment properly and efficiently and not cost you a fortune. My next question it seems, was an insult. “Would you like to sell it?, I asked. “Oh No”, he said. “I’m going to drive my truck just as soon as I find me some insurance !” He then went on to instruct me to consider letting him insure through me, so he could drive his truck. He slowly turned to returned to his car as I stood there with this blank stare as he pulled away.

The truck continued to sit there, but I never saw the man again. I asked the yard manager while paying my bill about a year later, has the owner of that truck been in. He told me that he hadn’t, and hadn’t paid his bill for the truck spaces in over a year. That’s when He went on to inform me that the man had passed away about a month earlier. I was sort of shocked but not really. “Whats going to happen with his truck”, I asked. He went on to tell me that the family had contacted him and the truck is now a part of a probate case that could last for years. Sadly, by the time they’re done and with the time the truck had already been sitting it would cost more or as much to replace all the dry rotting tires, hoses wiring and other stuff, than it was worth. Ultimately, the the headache caused by this truck and anything else he had will probably make the family angry and the lawyers rich. Judging by his attitude when I met him, he had no intentions of dying anytime soon. His mind was willing but his body wasn’t able.

The point of all this, is that when we leave this earth as living, breathing beings, I think its only fair to not leave our lives in such disarray that others have to jump through hoops to get it all straightened out. Distribution of wealth is very important and even though sometimes people may not have much it will still be here when we are gone. Someone has to deal with whatever is left. Ive even seen people spend or dispose of what they have left in order to keep others from fighting over it. There’s always that one family member who makes things harder than they need to be.

The flip side of that coin is people who don’t have much or any wealth, but have a lot of stuff. Even though I believe that one mans trash is another mans treasure, I also know that when you’re dead, no matter the value, its useless to you. Its not fair for people to accumulate a ton of nondescript, dust collecting junk that has to be disposed of by whomever is next in your family line. We all collect things, some more than others, throughout our lifetimes that give us meaning or are representative of times past. I am guilty.

Having been to thousands of estate sales and even cleaning out the belongings from the residence of a deceased loved many years ago, I realize that, No one cares about your stuff. We collect the things that make us feel good, our keepsakes from some milestone or event. I still have some of my children’s first projects from grade school. My youngest child is now a sophomore in college. I’m not suggesting that we simply throw away all of our memories and things that we love, (unless you’re willing to do it) but I am saying that although most of us wont know the time or day we will check out, we can all make it easier on our loved ones when we do. I think its selfish as hell to die and leave a bunch of stuff to be discarded and not have your business in order.

Get a life insurance policy, even if its a simple inexpensive one that only covers funeral expenses. Hire an estate planner or Create a living will and a trust while you are still alive and able, so that the people around you don’t have the burden of disposing of or distributing all your things. Things are only things, and things can cause a lot of problems for the living when you leave. You can take it one step further and actually pay for your funeral before you perish. It is always terrible when people have to beg, borrow and steal to deal with someones funeral arrangements after death. We will not live forever no matter how smart, rich, narcissistic, young, or healthy we believe we are, each of us have a date with destiny and we should think about the well being of others while we still can. The comedy is that I know that deep down there are some who are so starved for attention in life, that they will still be seeking attention in death. They love the idea of people fighting over them and their stuff. These people have no intention in going out without causing as much confusion in death as they kept up in life.