My Husband Had Planned for This
Several months before he died, my husband had asked me to sit with him at the kitchen table.
He looked tired that afternoon.
Not frightened.
Just serious.
He said, "We need to make sure you're protected."
I asked what he meant.
He told me that he had been reviewing the business structure, our property, our accounts, and our estate documents.
He had realized something important.
If anything happened to him, I needed to have complete control over my own future.
So we met with professionals.
We reviewed our estate plan.
We updated documents.
We made sure ownership and beneficiary arrangements reflected what we actually wanted.
And, most importantly, we established safeguards that would prevent someone from simply taking control of everything because they believed I was too old or too vulnerable to object.
My husband had also insisted that I keep copies of everything somewhere safe.
That was the envelope in my handbag.
My children didn't know about it.
