Several years ago while I was working on the household quarterly report, I had this fearful thought, "What would happen if one of us became incapacitated or died? I know where some stuff is, but does my spouse? And vice-versa?  We share responsibilities, but what if I die or get really sick? Or, if we both died suddenly would the children know where to start and what to do?"

Gone are the days when managing the household of a deceased family member meant waiting on the mail to arrive to see what bills are due. So much of our world is electronic now that anyone coming in behind us to manage our household for a while may not truly not know where to start! 

Having been through an estate management process, I decided that when we are gone and our family members may already be grieving, let's not let them be irritated too because they don't know what to do and where to start! It can happen! 

So I decided to approach Domestic Administration duties from my HR professional experience - orientation and training. Putting my HR hat on, I pictured myself orienting someone to our household and asked myself the following questions.

"What all would my designated agent, partner or family member need to learn about our household and be able to ramp up quickly and thoroughly?"

"If I was incapacitated from a surgery, where is the easy peasy policy and procedure manual?"

"What are my monthly deadlines and SOPs pertaining to our general household management or our finances?"

"What resources would they need to know about to keep our house going until the house sells?"

Regardless of whether you are a Single Domestic Administrator or a Partnered Domestic Administrator, organizing with four key information domains can help. 

1) Personal Property Management Inventory (house,mortgage, insurance, vehicles,etc.)

2) Finances Assets/Liability Contact List

3) Healthcare Management

4) Location of important legal documents

Of course, all usual safety and security conditions apply. Be safe with your passwords and define who has authority or Power of Attorney to access specific information. There are many cool apps and online tools to help you with this process including the personal health information tools such as Microsoft Healthvault or iHealth. 

I know many of us have our stuff organized in a meaningful way - for us! The next step is to consider how accessible and functional the process is for someone learning your household as a temporary "DA" who may be helping you with your life or finishing your life if need be.

Best wishes,

Lisa

   

Care, Communicate, Connect! 

  

 

 

 

Professional Speaker, Facilitator, Author, Coach