We’re not attorneys; not doctors; not grief counselors. We are people who have started and managed businesses, raised families and nurtured friends. We became caretakers for our aging parents, and then acted as executors of their estates.
In dealing with the incapacity of family members and, later, their deaths, we discovered laws we didn’t understand or even know about laws governing the choices made about our body, our property, our minor children, and our pets.
Dying is a complicated maze of legal jargon. Different forms and documents for your body, your property, your minor children and your pets. Different forms and documents managing your affairs before you die and different forms and documents after you die. Sigital assets have 10Xed the compexiiy and the paperwork grief of dying.
We found it hard to believe that educated people like ourselves did not understand t?the reasons why research show he paperwork grief of death is worse than the emotional grief of losing a loved one.
We realized that no one teaches someone how to die smart in school. Or explain why a lack of knowing or doing leaves a financial and legal mess for you and your survivors..
We discovered that dying is not just an emotional event in life, but a legal event.
The moment oxygen stops feeding your brain, various laws decide the choices made regarding your body, your property, your minor children and your pets. You have the right to document your wishes and to appoint someone to carry out your wishes. If you don’t, default state laws appoints someone to act on your behalf and choices they must follow.
- A legal event where “dying dumb” can cost 4 to 8% of your estate, and, if long term care is involved, perhaps all of your estate.
- A legal event where no plan means your body may be cremated and buried in an unmarked community grave.
- A legal event where making a will means you can accidentlally disinherit your children from a prior message.
- A legal event where a making a will or making no plan can trigger a legal process called probate.
- A legal event where a probate judge, someone you don’t even know, will decide whether you age in your own home or move to a nursing home.
- A legal event where the wishes ou make for digital assets must match the terms of service you agreed when you clicked the “I agree” button with Google, Facebook and other assets that only exist in digital form
That’s why we created Die$mart. A place to visit when you have questions or helpyou need to make a plan for death or a plan or steps to take after a death.
Our team is passionate about providing the information needed to manage the paperwork grief of death.
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- Kathy Lane
- Mike Hennesey
- Adrian Blakely
- Duane Bentraman
- Luther Know
- Mary Wright
- Cathy Farmer
- Minnie Scott
- Minna Vallentine
Kathy Lane
Ms. Lane has over 30 years in high technology, acting as a founder or key member of the management team in eleven startups. During her career, Ms. Lane has been a speaker at many computer industry events around the world and a guest on radio and television shows. She continues to be an angel investor and advisor to startups. Ms. Lane served as Vice President of Dataquest, a market research firm, providing expertise and advice regarding the personal computer software industry to personal computer software companies, venture capatalists and Wall Street analysts. Kathy was also the CEO of Softview, the makers of MacInTax. As CEO, she led the acquisition of Softview to ChipSoft. At ChipSoft, Ms. Lane service as President, TurboTax Professional Tax Division and was a member of the management team involved in the ChipSoft initial public offering. She was a co-founder of WorkCard Inc., helping to raise $10 million of venture capital. WorkCard created electronic collaborative workspaces, connecting Forture 1000 companies with staff companies and temporary workers. Ms. Lane’s latest business is diesmart.com. Using her background in information workflow, market research and taxes, diesmart.com provides products and resources to help individuals deal with the last stages of life. Ms. Lane is the author of a new book “DieSmart”.
Minnie Scott
Ms. Scott has been in the business world for 40 plus years, beginning with McCann Erickson in Los Angeles, where she worked scheduling television, radio and print media. She later joined Leslie Wallwork, Media Director at McCann Erickson, in a startup of his own company. From there, she became involved in another start up company, Norton & Associates which became the largest foodservice agency in the country. During her 17 years there, she served as Vice President and General Manager, handling dozens of foodservice accounts. Ms. Scott participated in all levels of sales and marketing channels specializing in creative development, promotions and new product launches. As a leader in the multi-billion dollar foodservice industry, she belonged to and worked with organizations, publications and editors to help create new and innovative approaches to advertising. Ms. Scott’s latest business venture is her own company, CMS (Custom Marketing Services and Christian Ministry Services). CMS provides the implementation and management arm for its clients as well as customized tracking software, website development, online stores and customized communication tools for sales and marketing.
Minna Vallentine
Ms. Vallentine has over 30 years experience working in a variety of industries. During her career, she has worked in the advertising industry with stints at J. Walter Thompson and McCann-Erickson Worldwide. She worked in both the media and account service departments and was involved in such accounts as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, Scott Paper Company, Century 21 and Burger King. As Vice President and Management Supervisor, she handled the $100 million Coca-Cola Enterprises account. She was Senior Vice President of Marketing for AdWare Systems (now a part of MediaBank LLC), a company that developed software modules for the advertising industry. Ms. Vallentine served as Director, IBM Alliance for Ariba where she renegotiated the alliance agreement between the two companies. For 10 years she was a credentialed teacher in Silicon Valley, teaching workplace literacy, computer skills and English as a Second Language classes. Summer of 2008, she taught English to 85 high school students near Zhuhai, China. She currently lives in Boulder, CO where she volunteer teaches English to adults at Intercambio and is a consultant to diesmart.com. She is a co-author of , “Last Dance and Final Wishes”, “Grave Robbers” and “Access Denied”. Ms. Vallentine is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Social Science.
DieSmart is a subsidiary of nFormed, LLC and is located in San Mateo, California.