By Jason Largey for Next Avenue When the “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin died last August, it was believed that she hadn’t prepared any kind of estate plan, including a last will and…
Best Ways to Manage Life Insurance Proceeds After a Spouse Dies
By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell for Next Avenue I handled all the household finances and bills throughout my 32-year-marriage to my husband, Dale. But when he suddenly died of a massive heart attack at 57…
To Want to Be Set Free
By Greg Schmidt, hospice chaplain Earlier this month, our Heart & Soul Hospice team hosted a “Celebration of Hope: Celebrate, Honor & Remember” service at Wichita Presbyterian Manor. It was…
How to Get Through the Fog of Grief
By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell for Next Avenue When my 57-year-old husband, Dale, suddenly died of a massive heart attack on Nov. 20, 2018, two days before Thanksgiving, to say I was in…
‘Living Memorials’ Allow Tributes Before Loved Ones Die
By Bill Ward for Next Avenue Linda Singer has had ovarian cancer for nine years. In recent months, her health has worsened significantly. Rather than dwelling on looming death and…
‘End Game’ Film Shows the Struggle in End-of-Life Decisions
By Deborah Quilter for Next Avenue In a pivotal scene of the documentary End Game, we listen in as a team of palliative care professionals discusses Mitra, a 45-year-old woman…
Learning from the birds
By Greg Schmidt, hospice chaplain I can hear a few birds talking to one another outside my office window. A Grackle is squawking that no one has dropped a sandwich…
The Problems With Do-It-Yourself Online Wills
By Marguerite C. Lorenz for Next Avenue As a professional trustee and executor, I have seen hundreds of estate-planning documents, including some from do-it-yourself online services. I appreciate that using…
Married? Widow? Whatever
By Jill Smolowe for Next Avenue I was sitting in the office of a new doctor, which is to say, I was filling out a lot of paperwork. There were…
What Good is Pressure?
By Greg Schmidt, hospice chaplain In nature, we discover life is FILLED with pressure-filled and time-filled mysteries. For instance, tectonic shifts in platelets near the earth’s crust cause earthquakes. A…