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 150,000 sold -- speaks to our aging population and an increased interest in writing wills, preparing medical care directives, preplanning funerals and making it easier for surviving family members to manage the details at the passing of loved ones.

Elegantly designed and tastefully illustrated, When I’m Gone is a fill-in record book and a resource manual to record all the little details of life so that, when someone is absent, for whatever reason, those left behind can cope. The book provides a place to give instructions concerning the issues we think of first -- legal and financial -- but also all of the day-to-day details of the household and the personal notes and information we usually never get around to writing down.

The book includes useful information and space to write in instructions on how to contact key people and where to locate essential documents, such as wills, powers of attorney, medical care directives and living wills. It also provides a space to jot down important information like banking details, home and car maintenance records, PINs, passwords, the location of keys, phone numbers, addresses and so much more.

Important matters that can be recorded here include:

• Insurance, lawyers, bank, investment and pension details, deeds and mortgages
• Healthcare and medical records and directives
• Funeral arrangements and last wishes
• Setting up trusts and choosing guardians for children and dependant adults
• Care of pets
• Maintenance of homes and vehicles
• Access to digital records and operation of computers and other devices
• Instructions for favorite belongings.

This new edition of When I’m Gone has been updated to reflect changes in laws, customs and technology over the past decade, touching on everything from digital storage of family photos to green funerals to medically assisted dying. Space has been added for writing more of your own information. Everyone wants to keep better track of their records, and author Kathleen Fraser has designed the perfect way to do so with as little effort as possible.

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