While families often put estate planning matters off, the death of a loved one is almost never timely and it often catches family members unprepared. One sister had a 51-year-old brother who had access to the resources needed to put a plan into place. However, she was to learn that such preparations never took place only after her brother died in a motor-vehicle accident. Instead, the family had to make a number of complicated decisions that could have been unnecessary had plans been put into place.