Educational materials developed by University of Minnesota Extension Service educators as a guide to deal with personal property inheritance issues.

Here is everything you need to promote your library as a center for genealogical study by leveraging your collection to help patrons conduct research on ancestors, document family stories, and archive family heirlooms. Websites, social media, and the Internet have made research on family history accessible. Your library can tap into the popularity of the do-it-yourself genealogy movement by promoting your role as both a preserver of local community history as well as a source for helping your patrons archive what's important to their family. This professional guide will teach you how to integrate family history programming into your educational outreach tools and services to the community. The book is divided into three sections: the first introduces methods for creating a program to help your clients trace their roots; the second provides library science instruction in reference and planning for local collections; and the third part focuses on the use of specific types of resources in local collections. Additional information features methods for preserving photographs, letters, diaries, documents, memorabilia, and ephemera. The text also includes bibliographies, appendices, checklists, and links to online aids to further assist with valuating and organizing important family mementos.

“A gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all share” (The Washington Post): the first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life. “There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.” Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but controllable. Their book offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the healthcare system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you’re sick. Get advice for how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you’d hoped, and how to talk to your children about your will. (Don’t worry: if anyone gets snippy, it’ll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy. An honest, surprising, and detail-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End is “a book that every family should have, the equivalent of Dr. Spock but for this other phase of life” (New York Times bestselling author Dr. Abraham Verghese).

A timely guide for individuals moving from a larger to a smaller space or consolidating two (or more) people's possessions into a single abode offers practical strategies for paring down one's belongings to the best and most meaningful items, simplifying one's life, controlling clutter, and dealing with the emotional aspects of "streamlining." Original. 20,000 first printing.

The complete guide for managing the financial, legal, and emotional issues of inheritances large and small. A death in the family is never easy, but receiving an inheritance, whether expected or not, can leave heirs feeling overwhelmed and even guilty at this change in their fortunes. Ann Perry’s insightful examination of the challenges make managing a bequest a little easier. Combining her practical know-how as a personal finance writer, the expertise of financial advisors, attorneys, and psychologists, and the wisdom gained from her personal inheritance experience, Perry deftly deals with such touchy subjects as selling the family homestead, divvying up property in “blended families,” parceling out heirlooms, dividing a family business, and sharing—or not sharing—an inheritance with a spouse. With refreshing candor, Perry addresses the guilt, grief, and unrealistic fantasies that can keep heirs from making the most of their windfalls, and also explores the unique, even life-changing, opportunities that a bequest can present. An excellent tool for estate planning, as well, this is essential reading for those who are writing their wills as well as those who are remembered in one.

Cope with legal, financial, and medical issues Minimize anxiety and stress and make the later years golden Need help caring for an elderly loved one? This sensitive, reassuring guide provides strategies for assessing older persons' needs, arranging for care, ensuring their safety, and enhancing quality of life - all while respecting their dignity. You'll see how to manage physical disabilities and chronic health problems, evaluate nursing homes, and help elders control their destinies. The Dummies Way * Explanations in plain English * "Get in, get out" information * Icons and other navigational aids * Tear-out cheat sheet * Top ten lists * A dash of humor and fun

Later years are changing under the impact of demographic, social and cultural shifts. No longer confined to the sphere of social welfare, they are now studied within a wider cultural framework that encompasses new experiences and new modes of being. Drawing on influences from the arts and humanities, and deploying diverse methodologies – visual, literary, spatial – and theoretical perspectives Cultural Gerontology has brought new aspects of later life into view. This major new publication draws together these currents including: Theory and Methods; Embodiment; Identities and Social Relationships; Consumption and Leisure; and Time and Space. Based on specially commissioned chapters by leading international authors, the Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology will provide concise authoritative reviews of the key debates and themes shaping this exciting new field.

In the tradition of Mary Roach’s bestselling Stiff and Jessica Mitford’s classic exposé The American Way of Death comes this meticulously researched, refreshingly irreverent, and lavishly illustrated look at death from acclaimed author Harold Schechter. With his trademark fearlessness and bracing sense of humor, Schechter digs deep into a wealth of sources to unearth a treasure trove of surprising facts, amusing anecdotes, practical information, and timeless wisdom about that undiscovered country to which we will all one day travel. Topics include • Death anxiety–is your fear of death normal or off the scale? • You can’t take it with you . . . or can you? Wacky wills and bizarre bequests • The hospice experience–going out in comfort and style • Deathbed and funeral etiquette–how to help the dying and mourn the dead with dignity • Death on demand–why the right-to-die movement may be the next big thing • “Good-bye everybody”–famous last words • The embalmer’s art–all dressed up and nowhere to go • Behind the scenes at your local funeral home • Alternative burial choices–from coral reefs to outer space From the cold, hard facts of death to lessons in the art of dying well, from what happens in the body’s last living moments to what transpires in the ground or in the furnace, from near-death experiences to speculation on the afterlife, The Whole Death Catalog leaves no gravestone unturned.

They are always there, raging, rumbling, and ruminating on the spirit of the West they say has been lost to cappuccino bars, environmental wackos, and yuppies. They are the Boys at the Bar--and you'll probably call them lots of names, not all of them complimentary. What you won't call them is boring. The Bar is the Corral Club in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This collection of Sureva Towler's essays on the boys--many of which appeared in The Denver Post--give the reader an insight into the often troubling, often hilarious politics of Western small-town life. As the boys drink, laugh, and carouse, they also tell the stories that define us. A lament for the West that is being lost, this book is also a celebration for what remains and a reminder to drop in to the local watering hole for a cold one with friends.

Let’s face it: you can't avoid death or taxes. But you can create an estate plan that will make both a whole lot easier for your loved ones and put you in control of how your assets will get passed to your heirs. Here, Wall Street Journal personal-finance reporter Rachel Emma Silverman walks you step-by-step through the process. Chock-full of clear and solid advice on how to get the most out of the main estate planning tools - including wills, trusts, life insurance, guardianship papers, and powers-of-attorney documents - the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook will help make your estate-planning process as simple, smooth, and unintimidating as possible. This book will help you: · Clarify your estate-planning goals, such as dividing up property for heirs, reducing taxes or leaving money for charity · Understand the key estate-planning documents you’ll need, including wills, beneficiary-designation forms, powers-of-attorney and health-care advance directives · Decode the technical jargon that estate planners often use, so you feel comfortable discussing QTIPs and QPRTs when you sit down with your lawyer. · Reduce possible estate, gift or generation-skipping taxes and legal and probate fees – decreasing what goes to the tax man and increasing what goes to your heirs · Learn strategies to divide money and personal property among your heirs, and reduce the possibility of family fights · Discuss sensitive estate-planning issues with your family · Maintain your estate-plan over time, including how to store and when to update your documents With completely up-to-date information on how to navigate the new 2011 estate tax legislation, and thoughtful advice on how to handle your estate in complicated situations – like if you’re single, in a same-sex relationship, or wish to provide for children with special needs - this is the estae-planning guide for today’s messy and complicated world. One of the biggest estate planning mistakes people make, says Silverman, is waiting too long to start. Which is why the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook isn’t just for those planning for retirement or their golden years. It’s for anyone, of any age, who wants the peace of mind of knowing that your wishes will be respected and your hard-earned money will get passed on as you would like.