I have had a very hectic past few months. I fell and broke my hand; had to put my mother in assisted living; sell her house to get the cash to pay for the assisted living; gather and store all of her needlepoints and other fabric related artwork; get the bank to accept my Power of Attorney for Mom’s accounts; and the list goes on and on.

Without getting into the minutia of things, if you have elderly relatives and might become involved in their healthcare and/or estate, take the time right now to make sure that you have all of the proper paperwork so that you can perform whatever tasks or changes need to be done. Missing a single piece of signed paperwork might cost you and your relatives dearly, and I’ve found banks and other agencies to be very particular about how the wills, trusts, etc. have been crafted and executed.