Assure Your Property Insurance Claims Accuracy

Here on the east coast summer is in full swing, and with summer comes the hurricane season. One of the lessons learned from past storms is the need to be able to verify belongings for insurance claims.

Thankfully, the Internet and digital technology can make this job easier. If you have a digital camera and an email account you can take pictures of your home and its contents and store the images online. This protects your documentation in the event your computer is lost to storm damage. Simply take multiple photos of the exterior and interior of your property to create a digital record of your possessions in case you need to file a claim. Then attach the pictures to an email you send to yourself. If your email provider doesn't allow enough storage space for this you can sign up for a free email account with Google or Yahoo and send the pictures there. Now anywhere you can access the Internet you can access the photos to help with any insurance claim needs.

Nursing Home Compare

You may at some time in your life be involved in selecting a Nursing Home facility for a loved one. The US Department of Health and Human Services Medicare site now has a feature called Nursing Home Care Compare. You can use this site to find and compare nursing homes by state, zip code, county or name. Once you have found nursing homes in your area you can view information on the quality of care provided. Each home is compared to the state and national averages for each category; for example the number of nursing staff hour per resident per day, or the percentage of residents who are physically restrained. Although the grading is measured against negatives and a little confusing (it seems a lower score is better), it is an excellent resource and a good place to start should you ever be in need of nursing home facilities.

Letter of Instruction

In this months issue of Money Magazine, Jean Chatzky has a good article about writing a letter of instruction to your heirs to help them sort through your affairs should you die. Jean makes the point that often heirs are unaware of where to look to find important documents or whom to contact to find information on your estate. While a letter of instruction is not a legal document, it can help your children or other heirs during a very troubling time. Some of the items Jean suggests for inclusion are:

• The location of estate planning documents (wills, trusts etc.)
• The location of financial documents (tax returns, deeds, bank statements)
• The location of Safe deposit boxes and their keys
• Life insurance policies LTC policies
• Investment accounts and contact information
• Phone numbers for accountants, attorneys, financial and insurance advisors
• Funeral home information if you have made arrangements

Some other items that come to mind:

• Information and passwords for email accounts
  
• Information and passwords on home security systems
• Information and contacts for pensions

While planning for our own deaths is never something we wish to dwell on, making life easier for our heirs is probably a common goal. Maybe looking at it in this light will make this wonderful idea easier to implement.