Get prepared

This is the calm-before stage, and it is the best time to start. Nothing has gone wrong yet, your parents are making their own decisions, and you simply want to know where things are and who to call if something changes.

The guides here cover the quiet groundwork: talking with your parents about money without taking over, building a simple inventory of their accounts and documents, and understanding the difference between a will, a power of attorney, and an executor.

A little preparation now saves a lot of scrambling later, when a bank, a care home, or the government asks for paperwork nobody can find.