If you died tomorrow morning at 9:47am, What would happen to all your shit? Chances are you do not have a will. Most people don't. 60-75% of Americans die without one, and this percentage increases dramatically in people less than 45 years of age. If you die without a will, your stuff does not "automagically" get transferred to your spouse, like most people may think. If you die without a will, you are "intestate", and the State in which you live determines who gets your stuff. Each state has separate intestate succession laws. In Texas where I live, inestate succession is dependent on your status when you die.

If you are unmarried, your children get your crap. If you have no children, your parents get your crap. Then if that doesn't work, it goes to siblings, then after that it would go to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. If you have no relatives living, all your worldly possessions will "escheat" to the State, and become their property.

If you ARE married, your spouse still does not magically get all your stuff. For example, if you have a living child that does not belong to the surviving spouse, then that child would inherit 50% of the community property, and the spouse would maintain their 50%.

Then there are rules for step-children, children born out of wedlock, etc... The laws are funky, confusing, and ALL OF IT COULD BE AVOIDED BY SIMPLY MAKING A WILL!

What would happen to your carcass if you died tomorrow. Do your loved ones know your wishes? Did you tell your wife, or son, or daughter that you want to be cremated, but perhaps your parents may think you want to be buried? It is a good plan to make it known what your wishes are in a legal document, so that there can be no dispute. A few minutes of paperwork now, could potentially save a family feud from breaking out after you are gone.

What about advanced directives? If you are a complete vegetable due to a car accident, and the doctor says you are in an persistent vegetative state with no chance of recovery, do you want to be kept that way? Does anyone know your opinion? Again, a couple of pieces of paper can save everyone you leave behind a lot of stress.

What about if you are not in a coma or some type of vegetation. What if you are unconscious, and bleeding from your asshole? Someone has to make medical decisions for you. Who would it be? Again folks, a couple of short forms, and all of this worry goes right out the door. A medical power of attorney form assigns a person to be in charge of making your medical decisions should you become unable to perform.

What does this all boil down to you ask? Well, what I have coined as a "Death Kit". Every person in America needs to take a little bit of time, and assemble all of these types of documents into a single packet, then place the packet into secure storage, and then instruct your family (or whoever) how to locate and activate the kit when necessary. The kit should contain a list of all friends and family who should be notified in the event of your death. Next, it should have a set of instructions as to what to do with your shell, now that you won't be needing it anymore. Personally, I recommend cremation. Come on, it's 2008, do we really need to be using up all this real estate by burying corpses? FUCK NO! There are well over 200,000,000 people in the United States. If we put all of them into a large wooden box and burying them, we are gunna run out of space for new Wal-Marts. Nextly, your death kit needs to have a list of all your pertinent account numbers and their respective institutions. Credit cards, bank accounts, etc.. This will help your family tremendously. More to the point, you need a list of all your assets, so they can be dealt with. The kit should also contain a family tree, if possible. This could help locate relatives if need be.

Essentially, you want someone to be able to pop open the packet, and process every thing that needs to be done post death by simply following a easy set of instructions. Imagine if everyone always had a death kit on hand. One person could process your entire estate in a matter of days. I am going to begin work on my kit in the next few days and weeks. I picked up a Nolo book on how to create legal wills without the use of an attorney. I am sure the attorneys in this world would fucking hate to hear that anyone is promoting such death kits, because it would take money out of their pockets. I say, they can take their high priced legal mumbo jumbo, and wipe their dick with it.

So, are you prepared? Is your family going to have stress and issues, and perhaps even feuding if you died tomorrow at 9:47am? ...probably, and that means you suck.