If someone is ill
There is work that is easier now than later.
Nobody has died. This page is about the time before that, and what can be written down while there is still someone to ask.
What this is
Go Forward is a private workspace. On this path it holds one thing: what your family would otherwise have to work out from scratch, written down while the person it belongs to can still tell you.
It is not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. Nothing you type is shared with anyone unless you ask us to share it.
You do not have to be the one in charge to use it. Most people on this path are not.
What we ask
Four questions, on two screens.
- Who is ill. Your partner, a parent, your child, a sibling, or a close friend. It decides which steps are yours and which are not.
- How serious the prognosis is. Months or less, a serious illness with no clear timeline, or a slow decline. A plan for months is not a plan for years.
- Your role right now. Primary caregiver, involved but not primary, or at a distance. We ask so we do not hand you work that is not yours.
- Whether their affairs are in order. Yes, no, or you are not sure. Not sure is the common answer, and it is a fine one.
It takes a few minutes. You do not need an account.
What you write down, and what comes out of it
The answers go into one record, kept with your plan. It has chapters for their wishes, their care, the first hour, the details a funeral director asks for, their story, and the things only they can tell you — bank, passwords, the name of the accountant.
Out of that record come four sheets. Each is a PDF you download and print.
- Hospital sheet — for the nurses and doctors, at every hospital visit, admission, or new caregiver.
- First-hour card — for whoever is with them at the end, in the first hour after they pass away.
- Document list — for whoever is handling the estate, and the attorney, at the first meeting, and every time someone asks "do we have…?".
- Funeral home sheet — for the funeral director, at the arrangement meeting, usually a day or two after the death.
Two more steps are about paper rather than words: which documents exist, where the originals are, and who holds a copy. That covers the advance directive, the health care proxy, a POLST, power of attorney, a HIPAA release and the will. When one is missing, the step drafts the message asking for it, and you send it yourself.
Writing in the record is free, and so is the first sheet a plan prints. The Estate Pass is the one thing to buy. See exactly what it adds.
The rest of the plan
The plan is ordered, and only the first part is for today. Here is the whole of one — for someone whose parent is seriously ill, who is involved in their care, and who is not sure whether their affairs are in order. A different set of answers gives a different list.
- Ask what they want, and write it down
- Put their medical details on one page
- Write down which papers they have, and where
- Write down what only they can tell you
- Get your questions ready about comfort care
- Ask about a POLST or DNR order
- Get your questions ready for HR
- Put a name against the jobs you need help with
- List their accounts and policies while they can tell you
- Get your questions ready about paying for care
- Write down their story, in their words
- Write down what the funeral home will ask
- Find support for yourself, now rather than later
Some of these are tools you fill in. Others are written guidance — on hospice and palliative care, on holding a caregiving job, on how long-term care gets paid for — with a link out to the official source. All of the guidance is free.
If they die
There is a button on this plan that says they have died. Pressing it opens the plan for after a death, starting with the first hours.
What you wrote into the record comes with it, along with any documents you uploaded and the people you named. We do not ask you again for what you have already told us. The funeral home sheet you filled in months ago is the one you take to the arrangement meeting.
If someone else is carrying this
Sometimes the person doing the caregiving is not the one reading this. If you would rather take something off their plate than add to it, you can buy the Estate Pass for them and send it with a note. They start their own plan with it, and it stays theirs.
Questions people ask
Do I have to wait until someone dies to use Go Forward?
No. This path is for the time before. It helps you gather the papers, write down what the person wants, and record who is allowed to speak for them, while there is still someone to ask.
What happens to everything I wrote down if they die?
The plan hands off. What you have written into the family record carries into the plan for after a death, so you are not asked for the same answers twice.
Does it cost anything?
Writing things down is free, and so is the first sheet a plan prints. The Estate Pass is the one thing to buy, and the pricing page lists exactly what it adds.
Planning for yourself rather than for someone else? That is the other path.
Start when you are ready
Four questions. A few minutes. No account needed.
Questions? hello@goforward.life