<prompt> Human: I believe this will be the final entry in what is, now, a month-long emotional rollercoaster. The previous posts can be found here: first and second First and foremost, Id like to take a moment and thank this rather amazing community. Our world can be pretty rough, harsh words are abundant, and apathy is never in short supply. Some scared, ignorant guy asked for help at a particularly challenging juncture and you people went above and beyond. I received some really great recommendations about financial preparedness, but I also received comprehensive insight concerning the legal, administrative, and even emotional aspects. So many of you just reached out to say something kind. I can honestly say that I was overwhelmed by your collective kindness; I did my best to respond to each of your comments and PMs and I apologize if I missed yours. Now, some of you asked to be updated regarding my condition, how things panned out, etc. So, good news, everyone I probably wont be dying anytime soon, at least not because of my unwelcome guest. I received a second MRI that focused on the area, a battery of tests and labs, and a number of consults with experts in the fields concerned endocrinology, ophthalmology, neurology, etc. and everything points toward me probably being fine. The blob doesnt appear to be cancer and it doesnt currently have any affect on my quality of life. That being said Ill have to keep a closer eye on things because there will always be some threat to my vision and endocrine system, but its marginal and Im completely happy with how things turned out. I strongly recommend visiting the previous posts, specifically the second, and at least skimming the parent comments. Some final near-incoherent ramblings to round off this post: Life changes quick. We all know some jagoff thats compelled to make a tragedy about themselves and share similar sentiments on social media, despite not really even being involved in the situation. People like that have really cheapened a valuable lesson. My life was going amazingly until some guy told me I may very well be fucked. Be an adult and address this rather simple aspect of lifedeath. It takes minimal effort and resources and it will spare your loved ones a ridiculous amount of inconvenience. Take care of it while its optional because it really sucked to deal with it while under the gun, so to speak. I had nightmares just about every night for the past month centered on my wife. It was some real Sopranos shit; Id usually see her having a complete breakdown over a pile of scattered papers because I left her hanging. Death didnt really bother me because I couldnt get over the pain I would have caused. Go see an estate planning attorney. These guys make a relatively simple process even simpler. More importantly, theyre familiar with laws that vary from place to place and they have experience with aspects of the post-death process that many of us may overlook and would otherwise prove to be pitfalls.Feel free to reach out with any questions or if you need some help with this stuff. Thank you rpersonalfinance, youre the fiscally responsible parents that I never had.Someone asked for the short version of things I learned. In no particular order: Sit down with an estate planning attorney. Its totally possible to do all this by yourself, but there are a ton of pitfalls and unforeseen issues that could render your efforts useless. Individual circumstances need to be accounted for. Do everything you can to avoid probate some of the other points will help with this. Virginia has a painful 18 month process and thats bull shit. Do everything you can to avoid probate because the court will take a considerable amount of the value of whatever goes through probate. This can really fuck your SO because it counts value, not equity. It doesnt matter if youve only made two payments on your 300,000 home, theyre going to want a percentage of that 300,000. Figure out a way to make the transfer of your money seamless. Joint accounts are the easiest, but carry inherent risk. You can also set up a pay upon death protocol with your bank. Your successor just has to prove youre dead and then the bank will initiate the steps in place to move the money to the person you identified. Do not make someone a co-owner of your car because that puts all joint property at risk in the event of a civil suit stemming from an accident. Some placesinstitutions have different levels of joint ownership, account owners, etc. and you need to verify which ones you have set up. A ton of people told me about how X added Y as a joint owner only to find out Y didnt have the rights they were meant to have. Figure out a way for your SO to have the login information for everything. Social media and banking stuff is obvious, but theres a ton of things that arent so apparent because you login so infrequently 401k, utilities, insurance, etc.. Theres a lot of ways to do this digitally or physically. Redundancy is critical with valuable documents. Some people lost important documents at critical times and it caused heartache. If youre going to use a safe deposit box, make sure your SO has access. People wrongly assumed theyd be able to and the SO had to go through a lot of legal trouble. Dont just plan for your death, plan for that area in between. Set up an advance medical directive and a power of attorney. Remove the burden of having to decide when to let you die from your SO. Let them focus on grieving and not making heavy choices. This will also stop them from racking up piles of unnecessary medical debt when you wouldnt want them to. At least one copy of your advance directive and power of attorney documents should be readily available in your home so that your SO can act quickly. You can also file a copy of your advance directive with your hospital. Make sure your SO orders a bunch of death certificates. Every institution will want one and having to order one will really draw out a process. Theyre not cheap, but apparently the cost is well worth it. Verify the beneficiaries of your various trusts, policies, etc. Apparently a few people have neglected to update those documents over the years and current spouses dont appreciate previous spouses receiving piles of your money. Plan your funeral. This makes life easier for those that survive you and you can save a fuck-ton of money. Aside from stopping your family from being guilt-ed into buying fancy shit you wouldnt have wanted in the first place, you can also pre-pay and receive a decent discount. You can also prohibit specific people from coming to your funeral apparently some guys ex-wife showed up to his funeral and made a bad day worse for his current wife.  <response>: Great news! Ive read your other posts as they came and its good to hear that youre in the clear for now. At least now you know what to dowhat will happen when the day does come. Also thank you for sharing with us. Your postsstory is a great way for people in a similar situation to understand what to do.And now that you are over this stressful situation, go treat yourself. You deserve it 