Sadly, I received a call from the wife of one of my neighbors, "XXX is getting near to the point where he is so weak that we need to get our final affairs in order before it's too late." I went to them immediately, as it seems as though he could pass any time. He recently had chemotherapy for fourth stage, inoperable cancer, having been a life long smoker.
My neighbors have been a God-send to me. Mr. XXX is so handy there isn't anything he can't fix or do, and he would never take any payment for his hard work so I had to always put a gift card in the front seat of his work truck in recognition of his skill, time and effort. He is a WWII veteran, from Virginia, a true southern gentleman farmer. He is a licensed electrician to boot. He knows everything about anything mechanical, electrical and he's a biodynamic gardener.
So when we finished signing, notarizing, getting "sign by X" witnesses from next door, Mr. XXX asked me how much he owed me for my services. I replied "not a thing", you don't have enough documents for me to notarize to appropriately match all that you have done for me over the past 14 years. I can't even express my appreciation and gratitude for bailing me out so many times."
He then said, "I'm not done yet." It gave my heart a huge leap, nonetheless, I don't think he will be rolling up my driveway ever again, and I'm deeply sad, however grateful, to have known and loved this very humble and kind person, the kinds of people that need to stay and not leave us, but their time has arrived.
What continues to amaze me is how many people leave these things to the last minute, if they do it at all. This gentleman owns a lot of properties and has other assets that he needs to protect and avoid probate.
The point of this entire post is that there are a great many people out there, baby boomers, who haven't paid attention to their advancing years, healthy or not, and haven't taken care of their end of life documents for their heirs, survivors, etc. and probate is not only expensive, it is lengthly and can erode the assets of the heirs when it doesn't have to be that way.
Notaries who can do GNW in their states for this kind of work should look hard at how to assist seniors in their documents and save them and others a lot of angst. Connect with people in your area via churches, clubs, senior communities, the list is exhaustive, to garner some of this work.
I had a signing with a couple last night who sold their home in San Antonio TX...they didn't like Texas and are from CA. She is a 2-year cancer survivor. She and her husband both said, when we close escrow and move into our new SLO home, we'll contact you for our family trust documents in the works now.
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