For many of us, our pets form part of our family. There is an increasing trend of young adults having pets instead of children and the pet economy is booming. In 2018, more than $72 billion was spent on pet care in the USA and in South Africa we spend between R300 and R600 million every year on pet food alone. A lot of our resources are spent on our pets, however we have limited control over the life they will lead once we are gone.

"When you are a little kid, you are a bit of everything: artist, scientist, athlete, scholar. Sometimes, it seems life is like a process of giving those things up, one by one. I guess we all have one thing we regret giving up. One thing we really miss. And we gave up because we were too lazy. We couldn’t stick it out. Or because we were afraid." Kevin Arnold, The Wonder Years 

COVID-19 has forced many individuals to play out various “what if” scenarios that were previously too uncomfortable to talk about. With many people working from home and engaging in long-term social distancing, our lives have changed and many are confronting the uncomfortable discussions related to their estate planning. Here are a few things you should consider related to your estate planning especially considering the current pandemic:

At funerals and memorial services, there is a trend to embrace joy over sadness. A celebration of the life reflecting the personality of the deceased. Perhaps you would like your funeral or memorial service to have a celebratory tone reflecting your uniqueness. Here are some interesting ideas for inspiration for a grand final event.

There is a large market place for fake and stolen Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even email accounts. A real person would have created real-life relationships, interactions and data associated with their account. Regardless of whether the person is alive or deceased, a real person's account is of more value to hackers than fake accounts. Getting access to an account of a deceased individual is however much easier for hackers when compared to an account of an active user. After all, the deceased person won’t be able to flag up any suspicious activity.

Insurance companies do try to trace the beneficiaries of these policies and are obliged to search for the beneficiaries for at least three years after assets are categorized as “unclaimed”.

Lucas* and Charmaine* were an elderly couple. After Lucas passed on, Charmaine wanted to fly to Australia to be with her son during her time of grief. Charmaine didn't know how to get immediate access to the bulk of their savings because Lucas had always managed their finances. She had never thought to ask for all the passwords and access details and Lucas never thought about writing them down in case he was not around. A few months after Kagiso* passed on, his brother Thulani* saw a post from Kagiso on one of his social media platforms. Kagiso's account was hacked and a hacker was posting from the account for several days. During this time of grief, Thulani started the process to close his brother's accounts but it was long and laborious with the hacker continuing to post every day. Elmarie* was always very pedantic about her appearance. For parties and functions she always asked her sister Leonie* to do her hair and makeup. Elmarie passed on unexpectedly. At her funeral the funeral director did a terrible job with her makeup. Everyone was devastated but especially Leonie who wished that she could have done her sister's hair and make-up one last time. Kyle* had a falling out with his family and even after 8 years was not on speaking terms his parents and siblings. He has been thinking about reaching out to attempt to make amends but has not mustered the courage yet. If he had to pass on today, there are so many things that would be left unsaid.