This Preventive Law Alert was written by: John Goodson, Colleen Manley and Christine Goodson Forakis.

Wealth Preservation and Preventive Law Special Alerts are patterned after an annual publication to all mountain climbers called "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" which writes up all mountaineering accidents describing the accident, what caused it, how it may have been prevented so that further mountain climbing catastrophes may be avoided. Wealth Preservation and Preventive Law Special Alerts are the equivalent of "Legal Accidents in North American Law" – a description of the legal catastrophe and how it may be avoided using preventive law techniques.

• My father always kept $3,000 in cash inside his home in case someone went to jail and needed to be bailed out. Unfortunately, he died suddenly and never told family members where he hid the money. After he died my mother and her five children, went through a ritualistic Easter egg hunt to locate the hidden money and other valuables which we knew he had but could not find. After five hours of family aggravation over our father's eccentricies, we found the money under a very heavy file cabinet that required two people to lever it up.
• Tim was a successful dentist and a great client. He followed our advice with the same perfection he insisted upon when he treated patients. However, when he died suddenly we found that he made a serious mistake. The family knew that he had multiple safety deposit boxes. He watched too many movies where burglars dug under the bank vault and robbed all of the safety deposit boxes. He was always worried he wouldn't know which bank would end up being robbed. Tim was careful and safe by having multiple safety deposit boxes thus not keeping everything in one location. We knew he had gold because most dentists figure out a way to collect leftover gold. The family was gratified. When Tim died the family found a glass bottle with the multiple safety deposit box keys, but no where did he have a listing of the banks in which the safety deposit boxes were located. The only people who benefited from this accident were the lawyer, accountant and investigator who were paid to locate the safety deposit boxes.

This solution is simple. We provide all of our client families with an ample supply of our Records Location Worksheet. This checklist allows each person to designate the location of all their important legal documents and small valuables which are sometimes hidden throughout a home or in a distance location. We recommend that the worksheet be updated periodically and a copy is sealed and left with an attorney and a duplicate left with a trusted family member or friend.

What is the cost of forever losing legal documents and valuables because you did not tell anyone where they are located?

What is the cost of having family members, investigators and lawyers going on a ritualistic Easter egg hunt lasting for hours?

All this because you did not have this preventive law document in place before the catastrophes happened.

We help prevent legal accidents in North America!!

For additional information, please call (602) 252-5110.

www.goodsonmanleyforakis.com

Contact Information

340 East Palm Lane, Suite 300
Phoenix AZ 85004-4610

ph: 602.252.5110
f: 602.257.1883

Or visit us online at www.goodsonmanleyforakis.com