Hello, this is James Mayer, Branch Manager, from the Huffman Mayer Paolo Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. 

Hey there this is James.

I had a scenario where kind of like in my own house where, just because of my job and interest in numbers and finances, I tend to do all the bills.

So, I had a scenario where unfortunately a spouse passed away and his wife was not aware of where the assets are. The checking account, credit cards. Simple things like passwords, cell phone information, bills, pension, social security information.

I always scares me to hear these kind of stories.

What we do with our clients is build a documented list of where everything is.

Whose the contact person?

What’s the account number?

What’s the name?

Who do you owe?

Life insurance?

Anything you can imagine, just in case something happens, and the person that is in charge of it, isn’t around to tell you where everything is.

Now I know in my house it works better when my wife does what she does and I do what I do, but we should at least have a documented list. One thing we do is keep a copy just incase that list was lost and can help guide the surviving spouse.

So I think it is a very fixable scenario, something I think everyone should do.

Get a list of all of your assets and liabilities, passwords, and important documents.

Get them together and the person that is in charge of it at least tell the other person where it is at a minimum.  The goal would be that both people know and are informed, but I recognized that isn’t how life works