A Practical Guide to Taking Charge of Your Affairs

Michael Kerrigan
May 2012,  £9.99
978-188735493-6 Paperback 
978-1887354-98-1 epub/mobi

Published to coincide with Dying Matters Awareness Week 2012

Death is inevitable: we are all destined to shuffle off this mortal coil, kick the bucket, cease to be (even if some, to challenge the old cliché, dodge the taxman). Yet many of us choose to face an inescapable mortality with heads firmly stuck in the sand.

But is ignorance really bliss? Perhaps if we prepare ourselves thoughtfully for death – whether our own or a loved one’s – and take charge of our own affairs, we will be able to rest easier as the fat lady begins her final chorus?

Just as we embrace change in life, so must we in the way we die and how we mourn and memorialise. Medical life-support technologies; blended families; generational conflict; secularised rite-of-passage ceremonies; labyrinthine loans, pensions and saving schemes; online activities from our social lives to mundane tasks; increasing concerns about our impact on the planet... Dying, mourning and their aftermath can be a whole lot of grief.

Where There’s a Will guides you with a refreshing lightness of touch through all the emotional, financial, legal and practical issues that you need to consider. With a combination of constructive tips and thoughtful reflections on dying, death and bereavement, this book throws light on subjects that all too often remain taboo.