LAST ORDERS
The Essential Guide to your Letter of Wishes
by Patricia C Byron
This website has been produced to enable you to learn more about Last Orders, the book which will guide you through the process of writing your Letter of Wishes.
Last Orders is intended to assist anyone and everyone. It deals with that perennial taboo, the subject of death. It is not a Will, nor should it be considered as such. It is, however, the essential guide to producing your Letter of Wishes which, once completed correctly, will advise your executors and those you leave behind of the choices you have made regarding a funeral, your possessions and even your pets.
There are 12 Sections and over 100 simple, but pertinent questions to be completed and answered by you in Last Orders. The answers you give will eradicate doubt and offer clarity to the Executors of your Will and those you leave behind.
The book is simple yet comprehensive
Its usefulness cannot be overstated
If you still do not consider that you need such a book, consider this scenario: Imagine your child, sibling or friend is executor to your Will. When the sad time comes for them to wind up your estate, how and where would they start? Would they, for example, be able to answer the following questions:
Where are the deeds to your house? Where is your Will? Have you registered as an organ donor? Who has spare sets of keys to your house? Who knows the code to your burglar alarm? Does your home have a safe and what is it’s code? Who is to take care of your pet poodle Pandora? Equally important, who do you not want to take care of Pandora???
And it doesn't stop there!
How about: who should receive the family heirloom – financially worthless and therefore not in your Will - but has been in the family for four generations. (This, sadly, is a perennial family fall-out favourite!)
There are numerous excellent websites and books detailing the role of an executor and the responsibilities entailed in the administration of an estate; Last Orders does not seek to repeat them. Instead, the essence of the book is to attain important answers to relevant questions before death takes place.
In researching Last Orders, the author consulted with solicitors, funeral directors, the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners, The Law Society, MENCAP, but perhaps most telling, she has had personal experience of administering estates.
Copyright Patricia C Byron 2010