Arranging care or providing care for a parent is the ideal environment to start off infighting among family members. It can blow up lifelong relationships, or worse lead to costly lawsuits. Too often, the lack of a plan leads to stress and discord. Too often families think if they ignore it, it’ll go away. Bulletin: The conflict doesn’t go away. It festers.
My three step plan creates a thoughtful structure that reflects the family’s mission and values resulting in a more collaborative and private resolution. Each step fosters inclusivity instead of exclusivity by offering three structured steps and actionable information creating multiple generational opportunities to communicate in a constructive way. An advisor may serve as a mediator or facilitator to encourage cooperation and timely planning.
- Excerpt from "How Not to Tear Your Family Apart"
The goal of this book is to help individuals, families, and friends
plan for both the expected and unexpected. Use this book as a tool to
broaden your understanding of how to start important conversations
with friends and family about long-term planning and to learn about
your options. In the case of planning for immediate, extended, or longterm
care needs, one size does not fi t all. To bring to life the gravity
of some of the issues facing families as they undertake this planning,
I’ve created the Jones family, whose stories will hopefully demonstrate
how all this works in the real world. There are three generations in
the Jones family: the grandparents, James and Carolyn; their daughter
and son-in-law, Jodi and Jackson; and their grandchildren, Erik and
Nicole. I hope you’ll see yourself or someone you care about in some
of these characters and be inspired to share this book with others who
need to start important generational conversations and open a planning
dialogue with friends and/or family.
My three simple steps offer you a framework to start conversations,
open lines of communication, encourage participation, and talk about
choices and fi nancial stability. This is about living your best possible
life as you age and letting other generations do the same.
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